Unraveling how electronic and spin structures control macroscopic properties of manganite ultra-thin films

Perovskite manganites exhibit fascinating transport and magnetic properties, essential for fundamental research and applications. With the development of thin film technologies, more exotic properties have been observed in doped-manganites over a wide range of temperature. Unraveling the interplay of spin, charge and orbital degrees of freedom that drives exotic, macroscopic properties is therefore crucial for the understanding of strongly correlated electron systems. Here, using a combination of transport, spectroscopic ellipsometry, X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism, we observe two concomitant electronic and magnetic phases (insulating paramagnetic phase for T >195 K and insulating canted-ferromagnetic for T