Investigation of the structural and magnetic clustering near the PV-BM topotactic phase transition in LSMO films by PNR

Controlled oxygen release/uptake in complex oxides can induce changes of the crystal structure and simultaneously of the magnetic and electrical properties. In La1-xSrxMnO3 (LSMO) the gradual oxygen desorption triggers a phase transition from the initial ferromagnetic (FM) perovskite (PV) structure to an oxygen vacancy layered antiferromagnetic (AFM) brownmillerite (BM) structure, i.e. La1-xSrxMnO2.5. Our previous work suggests a potential structural and magnetic clustering process during this phase transition. We propose to measure half-polarized PNR at POLREF to gain additional information on the potential clustering phenomena compared with GISANS. This study aims for a systematic and comprehensive understanding of the oxygen vacancy induced topotactic phase transition on two length scales (i.e., microscopic and mesoscopic), revealing the relationship between the presence of oxygen vacancies and the resulting structural and magnetic evolution. Such an understanding is important for the design of novel ionotronic devices.