title: Emerging single-phase state in small manganite nanodisks.
abstract: In complex oxides systems such as manganites, electronic phase separation (EPS), a consequence of strong electronic correlations, dictates the exotic electrical and magnetic properties of these materials. A fundamental yet unresolved issue is how EPS responds to spatial confinement; will EPS just scale with size of an object, or will the one of the phases be pinned? Understanding this behavior is critical for future oxides electronics and spintronics because scaling down of the system is unavoidable for these applications. In this work, we use La0.325Pr0.3Ca0.375MnO3 (LPCMO) single crystalline disks to study the effect of spatial confinement on EPS. The EPS state featuring coexistence of ferromagnetic metallic and charge order insulating phases appears to be the low-temperature ground state in bulk, thin films, and large disks, a previously unidentified ground state (i.e., a single ferromagnetic phase state emerges in smaller disks). The critical size is between 500 nm and 800 nm, which is similar to the characteristic length scale of EPS in the LPCMO system. The ability to create a pure ferromagnetic phase in manganite nanodisks is highly desirable for spintronic applications.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China;
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China;
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China;
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China;
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China;
authors.forename: Weichao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China;
authors.forename: Hanxuan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China;
authors.forename: Jiebin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China;
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China;
authors.forename: Yunfang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kou
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China;
authors.forename: Wengang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China;
authors.forename: Fanli
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China;
authors.forename: Yinyan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China;
authors.forename: Wenbin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China;
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing 210093, China; lifengyin@fudan.edu.cn wplummer@phys.lsu.edu shenj5494@fudan.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Lifeng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70808 lifengyin@fudan.edu.cn wplummer@phys.lsu.edu shenj5494@fudan.edu.cn.
authors.forename: E W
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Plummer
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing 210093, China; lifengyin@fudan.edu.cn wplummer@phys.lsu.edu shenj5494@fudan.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shen
keywords: electronic phase separation; magnetization; manganites; single phase