Probing orbital ordering in LaVO3 epitaxial films by Raman scattering

Abstract

Single crystals of Mott-Hubbard insulator LaVO3 exhibit spin and orbital ordering along with a structural change below ≈140 K. The occurrence of orbital ordering in epitaxial LaVO3 films has, however, been little investigated. By temperature-dependent Raman scattering spectroscopy, we probed and evidenced the transition to orbital ordering in epitaxial LaVO3 film samples fabricated by pulsed-laser deposition. This opens up the possibility to explore the influence of different epitaxial strain (compressive vs. tensile) and of epitaxy-induced distortions of oxygen octahedra on the orbital ordering, in epitaxial perovskite vanadate films.