2009, Rößler, S., Harikrishnan, S., Naveen Kumar, C.M., Bhat, H.L., Elizabeth, S., Rößler, U.K., Steglich, F., Wirth, S.

We report on the magnetic and electrical properties of Pr 0.6Sr 0.4MnO 3 single crystals. This compound undergoes a continuous paramagnetic-ferromagnetic transition with a Curie temperature T C301 K and a first-order structural transition at T S64 K. At T S, the magnetic susceptibility exhibits an abrupt jump, and a corresponding small hump is seen in the resistivity. The critical behavior of the static magnetization and the temperature dependence of the resistivity are consistent with the behavior expected for a nearly isotropic ferromagnet with short-range exchange belonging to the Heisenberg universality class. The magnetization (M-H) curves below T S are anomalous in that the virgin curve lies outside the subsequent M-H loops. The hysteretic structural transition at T S as well as the irreversible magnetization processes below T S can be explained by phase separation between a high-temperature orthorhombic and a low-temperature monoclinic ferromagnetic phase.

2014, Wadati, H., Geck, J., Schierle, E., Sutarto, R., He, F.-J., Hawthorn, D.G., Nakamura, M., Kawasaki, M., Tokura, Y., Sawatzky, G.A.

Coherent epitaxial growth allows us to produce strained crystalline films with structures that are unstable in the bulk. Thereby, the overlayer lattice parameters in the interface plane, (a, b), determine theminimum-energy out-of-plane lattice parameter, cmin (a, b).We showbymeans of density-functional total energy calculations that this dependence can be discontinuous and predict related firstorder phase transitions in strained tetragonal films of the elements V, Nb, Ru, La, Os, and Ir. The abrupt change of cmin can be exploited to switch properties specific to the overlayer material. This is demonstrated for the example of the superconducting critical temperature of a vanadium film which we predict to jump by 20% at a discontinuity of cmin.

2015, Schönecke, S., Richter, M., Koepernik, K., Eschrig, H.

Coherent epitaxial growth allows us to produce strained crystalline films with structures that are unstable in the bulk. Thereby, the overlayer lattice parameters in the interface plane, (a, b), determine theminimum-energy out-of-plane lattice parameter, cmin (a, b).We showbymeans of density-functional total energy calculations that this dependence can be discontinuous and predict related firstorder phase transitions in strained tetragonal films of the elements V, Nb, Ru, La, Os, and Ir. The abrupt change of cmin can be exploited to switch properties specific to the overlayer material. This is demonstrated for the example of the superconducting critical temperature of a vanadium film which we predict to jump by 20% at a discontinuity of cmin.