X-ray-induced structural transition inLa0.875Sr0.125MnO3

We report a synchrotron x-ray-scattering study of the magnetoresistive manganite ${\mathrm{La}}_{0.875}{\mathrm{Sr}}_{0.125}{\mathrm{MnO}}_3.$ At low temperatures, this material undergoes an x-ray-induced structural transition at which charge ordering of ${\mathrm{Mn}}^{3+}$ and ${\mathrm{Mn}}^{4+}$ ions characteristic to the low-temperature state of this compound is destroyed. The transition is persistent but the charge-ordered state can be restored by heating above the charge-ordering transition temperature and subsequently cooling. The charge-ordering diffraction peaks, which are broadened at all temperatures, broaden more upon x-ray irradiation, indicating the finite correlation length of the charge-ordered state. Together with the recent reports on x-ray-induced transitions in ${\mathrm{Pr}}_{1-x}{\mathrm{Ca}}_x{\mathrm{MnO}}_3,$ our results demonstrate that the photoinduced structural change is a common property of the charge-ordered perovskite manganites.