Spectroscopic and topographic study of LCMO thin films using low-temperature STM

Abstract The manganites are one of a number of materials whose magnetic properties may be particularly useful because they appear to be 100% spin-polarised metals at low temperature. Recently, it has been demonstrated that tunnelling experiments can access the spin-split density of states in these materials. In the present work, topographic and spectroscopic information was obtained on thin-film La 1− x Ca x MnO 3 material using a low-temperature UHV scanning tunnelling microscope. This paper will outline the results of this study and in particular the variation in observed features on the I – V curves as a function of surface treatment.