Surface Ordering of Orbitals at a Higher Temperature in LaCoO3 Thin Film

We report on the distinct surface state of electronic orders, including spin, orbital, and spin-state degrees of freedom of Co3+ ion, in an epitaxially strained thin film of LaCoO3 grown on (LaAlO3)0.3(SrAl0.5Ta0.5O3)0.7 (LSAT) substrate. The surface ordered state was detected by the grazing-incidence resonant soft x-ray scattering at Co L-edge, where the probing depth is less than the topmost 4 nm of surface. Comparing with the result of bulk sensitive x-ray diffraction, we revealed that the transition temperature of the orbital order (spin order) at the surface region is about 30 K (20 K) higher (lower) than that of the bulk. A novel phenomenon of the surface order and bulk disorder of the orbital degree of freedom can be attributed to its collective and lattice-coupled nature which is strongly affected by the translational/inversion symmetry breaking at the surface.