We show that using epitaxial strain and chemical pressure in orthorhombic YMnO3 and Co-substituted (YMn0.95Co0.05O3) thin films, a ferromagnetic response can be gradually introduced and tuned. These results, together with the measured anisotropy of the magnetic response, indicate that the unexpected observation of ferromagnetism in orthorhombic o-RMnO3 (R= Y, Ho, Tb, etc) films originates from strain-driven breaking of the fully compensated magnetic ordering by pushing magnetic moments away from the antiferromagnetic [010] axis. We show that the resulting canting angle and the subsequent ferromagnetic response, gradually increase (up to ~ 1.2\degree) by compression of the unit cell. We will discuss the relevance of these findings, in connection to the magnetoelectric response of orthorhombic manganites.
@article{arxiv.1010.4118,
title = {Strain-driven non-collinear magnetic ordering in orthorhombic epitaxial YMnO3 thin films},
author = {X. Marti and V. Skumryev and V. Laukhin and R. Bachelet and C. Ferrater and M. V. García-Cuenca and M. Varela and F. Sánchez and J. Fontcuberta},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1010.4118},
year = {2015}
}