ABSTRACT
Due to an extremely diverse phase space, La1-xSrxMnO3, as with other manganites, offers a wide range of tunability and applications including colossal magnetoresistance and use as spin-polarized electrodes. Here, we study an unprecedented, exotic surface reconstruction (6 × 6) in La1-xSrxMnO3 (x = 0.3) observed via low-energy electron diffraction (LEED). Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) shows the surface is relatively flat, with unit-cell step heights, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) reveals a strong degree of Sr segregation at the surface. By combining electron diffraction and first-principles computations, we propose that the long-range surface reconstruction consists of a Sr-segregated surface with La (6 × 6) ordering. This study expands our understanding of manganite systems and underscores their ability to form interesting surface reconstructions, driven largely by cation segregation that can potentially be controlled for tuning surface ordering.
ABSTRACT
We present in this work results concerning the application of the generalized simulated annealing (GSA) algorithm to the LEED search problem. The influence of the visiting distribution function (defined by the so-called q(V) parameter) in the effectiveness of the method was investigated by the application of the algorithm to structural searches for optimization of two to ten parameters in a theory-theory comparison for the CdTe(110) system. Results, obtained with the scaling relation and probability of convergence as a function of the number of parameters to be varied, indicate the fast simulated annealing (FSA) (q(V) = 2.0) approach as the best search machine.
