Are strain-induced effects truly strain induced? A comprehensive study of strained LCMO thin films

We report results on strained La2∕3Ca1∕3MnO3 (LCMO) films that are able to distinguish between true strain effects and effects due simply to the reduced film thickness. Biaxially strained LCMO films were grown on SrTiO3, NdGaO3, and LaAlO3. The films on SrTiO3 and LaAlO3 are elastically strained and those on NdGaO3 are only slightly strained. We observe that both the saturation moment (Msat) and the Curie temperature (TC) are suppressed as the films become thinner, regardless of the strain. Thus, the decrease in Msat and TC is due to the two-dimensional nature of the films and not the strain.