We have probed the nature of magnetism at the surface of (001)-, (110)-, and (111)-oriented ${\text{La}}_{0.7}{\text{Sr}}_{0.3}{\text{MnO}}_3$ thin films. The spin polarization of ${\text{La}}_{0.7}{\text{Sr}}_{0.3}{\text{MnO}}_3$ thin films is not intrinsically suppressed at all surfaces and interfaces but is highly sensitive to both the epitaxial strain state as well as the substrate orientation. Through the use of soft x-ray spectroscopy, the magnetic properties of (001)-, (110)-, and (111)-oriented ${\text{La}}_{0.7}{\text{Sr}}_{0.3}{\text{MnO}}_3/{\text{SrTiO}}_3$ interfaces have been investigated and compared to bulk magnetometry and resistivity measurements. The magnetization of (110)- and (111)-oriented ${\text{La}}_{0.7}{\text{Sr}}_{0.3}{\text{MnO}}_3/{\text{SrTiO}}_3$ interfaces is more bulk-like as a function of thickness whereas the magnetization at the (001)-oriented ${\text{La}}_{0.7}{\text{Sr}}_{0.3}{\text{MnO}}_3/{\text{SrTiO}}_3$ interface is suppressed significantly below a layer thickness of 20 nm. Such findings are correlated with the biaxial strain state of the ${\text{La}}_{0.7}{\text{Sr}}_{0.3}{\text{MnO}}_3$ films; for a given film thickness it is the tetragonal distortion of (001) ${\text{La}}_{0.7}{\text{Sr}}_{0.3}{\text{MnO}}_3$ that severely impacts the magnetization, whereas the trigonal distortion for (111)-oriented films and monoclinic distortion for (110)-oriented films have less of an impact. These observations provide evidence that surface magnetization and thus spin polarization depend strongly on the crystal surface orientation as well as epitaxial strain.

• Received 18 August 2008

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.79.104417