Role of elastic bending stress on magnetism of a manganite thin film studied by polarized neutron reflectometry

We measured the magnetization depth profile of a (La1-xPrx)1-yCayMnO3 (x = 0.60 ± 0.04, y = 0.20 ± 0.03) film using polarized neutron reflectometry as a function of applied elastic bending stress and temperature. We found unequivocal and until now elusive direct evidence that the exclusive application of compressive or tensile bending stress along the magnetic easy axis increases or decreases, respectively, the saturation magnetization of the film. Furthermore, we obtained a coupling coefficient relating strain to the depth-dependent saturation magnetization.