Local effects in strained marnganite thin films

We report on polarized X-ray absorption spectroscopy (P-XAS) study of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (LSMO) films, epitaxially grown by laser ablation on tensile (SrTiO3) and compressive (LaAlO3) substrates. In-plane and out-of-plane bond information was obtained by setting the angle between electric field vector and film surface close to 0 and 90degrees, respectively. Measurements show significant modifications in the average MnO6 octahedron around manganese atoms in the film plane for tensile and compressive substrates. The modifications of the XANES spectra were correlated to a modification in the average Mn-O distance and a distortion of the MnO6 octahedra. Ab initio calculations using the full multiple scattering approach confirm the structural model of distorted octahedron. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.