Ionic liquid modulation of exchange bias in epitaxial LaMnO₃ thin films

The magnetic ground state of LaMnO₃ (LMO) thin film is still a controversial issue, even though various mechanisms, such as cation/anion non-stoichiometry, epitaxial strain, interfacial charge reconstruction, and orbital ordering, have been proposed. Here, exchange bias (EB) was introduced into a high-quality epitaxial LMO thin film via relatively low oxygen growth pressure. The EB in LMO was modulated by +2 V gating via ionic liquid method with increased EB field (H_EB), coercivity (H_C), blocking temperature (T_B), and reduced ferromagnetic (FM) magnetization. However, the −2 V gating has a much weaker tunability. By investigating the change of structure, surface morphology, and Mn oxidation state in LMO thin films, the modulation of magnetic properties is attributed to the creation/annihilation of oxygen vacancy in an LMO thin film. The suppressed FM phase in LMO can be ascribed to reduced Mn valence, structure disorders, and structure transition. However, the enriched antiferromagnetic phase results from the transition of the pseudocubic structure to the distorted orthorhombic structure. This work not only highlights the importance of functional defects in perovskite oxides but also sheds light on the potential of electric-field modulation of magnetism in spintronic devices.