Strain tuning of Néel temperature in YCrO3 epitaxial thin films

Epitaxial strain is a useful handle to engineer the physical properties of perovskite oxide materials. Here, we apply it to orthorhombic chromites that are a family of antiferromagnets showing fruitful functionalities as well as strong spin–lattice coupling via antisymmetric exchange interaction along Cr–O–Cr bonds. Using pulsed laser deposition, we grow YCrO3 thin films on various substrates imposing strain levels in the range from −1.8% to +0.3%. The films are stoichiometric with a 3+ valence for Cr both within the films and at their surface. They display an antiferromagnetic spin order below their Néel temperature, which we show can be strongly tuned by epitaxial strain with a slope of −8.54 K/%. A dimensionless figure of merit (defined as the slope normalized by the Néel temperature of bulk) is determined to be 6.1, which is larger than that of other perovskites, such as manganites (5.5), ferrites (2.3), or nickelates (4.6). Density functional theory simulations bring insight into the role of Cr–O bond lengths and oxygen octahedral rotations on the observed behavior. Our results shed light on orthorhombic chromites that may offer an energy-efficient piezo-spintronic operation.