Nanoscale phase competition during charge ordering in intrinsically strained La0.33Ca0.67MnO3 -: art. no. 180404

We show that strain has a large effect on charge ordering (CO) formation in La0.33Ca0.67MnO3 by in situ high-resolution electron microscopy. CO forms inside the orthorhombic domains of the distorted perovskite structure and results further strain. Inside a single domain upon cooling, CO follows three stages: disorder, cluster forming at T(*)similar to280 K and percolation at T(p)similar to235 K. While T-* is approximately constant, percolation temperature varies significantly between different domains and places, which we attribute to the effect of intrinsic strain on the one-electron bandwidth.