Abstract
We examine the structural and electronic properties of LaNiO and NdNiO epitaxial thin films grown on cubic (001) SrTiO from the viewpoint of bulk crystal symmetry and misfit strain. X-ray scattering and polarization-dependent x-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements are performed to determine the crystal symmetry and extract the local Ni orbital response, respectively, to understand the strain-induced distortions of the bulk structure. A strain-induced orbital polarization is found in NdNiO films, but is absent in LaNiO films. The difference in electronic structure is attributed to the bulk thermodynamic phases through group theoretical methods, which reveals that thin film perovskites retain a “memory” of their preferred electronic and structural configurations.
- Received 22 February 2013
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.88.205112
©2013 American Physical Society