Ferroelectric-Ferromagnetic Heterostructures based on Sodium Substituted Lanthanum Manganite Thin films deposited on PMN-PT substrate by Pulsed Laser Deposition

Abstract Phase pure targets of sodium substituted lanthanum manganites (LNMO) were prepared by citrate gel method and characterized. These targets were laser ablated by pulsed laser deposition technique and were deposited simultaneously on silicon and relaxor ferroelectric PMN-PT substrates with a view to fabricating ferroelectric-ferromagnetic 2D heterostructures. Magnetization measurements reveal a higher magnetization for films of 100 nm thickness than the 300 nm thick films. The PMN-PT substrate influences the magnetic properties of sodium substituted lanthanum manganite thin films. The strain effects are higher for 100 nm thin films. The saturated polarization-electric field (P-E) loop measurements carried out on films demonstrated that, there is a considerable change in hysteresis parameters (coercivity and remanent polarization) upon thin film deposition. PMN-PT LNMO thin films can be viewed as a heterostructure where ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity co-exist and has potential applications in magnetoelectrics.