Phase formation, phonon behavior, and magnetic properties of novel ferromagnetic La3BAlMnO9 (B = Co or Ni) triple perovskites

In the quest for novel magnetoelectric materials, we have grown, stabilized and explored the properties of La3BAlMnO9 (B = Co or Mn) thin films. In this paper, we report the influence of the growth parameters that promote B/Al/Mn ordering in the pseudo-cubic unit cell and their likely influence on the magnetic and multiferroic properties. The temperature dependence of the magnetization shows that La3CoAlMnO9 is ferromagnetic up to 190 K while La3NiAlMnO9 shows a TC of 130 K. The behavior of these films are compared and contrasted with related La2BMnO6 double perovskites. It is observed that the insertion of AlO6 octahedra between CoO6 and MnO6 suppresses significantly the strength of the superexchange interaction, spin-phonon and spin-polar coupling.Comment: 13 pages, 3 fig

Long-range Ni/Mn structural order in epitaxial double perovskite La2NiMnO6 thin films

We report and compare the structural, magnetic, and optical properties of ordered La2NiMnO6 thin films and its disordered LaNi0.5Mn0.5O3 counterpart. An x-ray diffraction study reveals that the B-site Ni/Mn ordering induces additional XRD reflections as the crystal symmetry is transformed from a pseudocubic perovskite unit cell in the disordered phase to a monoclinic form with larger lattice parameters for the ordered phase. Polarized Raman spectroscopy studies reveal that the ordered samples are characterized by additional phonon excitations that are absent in the disordered phase. The appearance of these additional phonon excitations is interpreted as the clearest signature of Brillouin zone folding as a result of the long-range Ni/Mn ordering in La2NiMnO6. Both ordered and disordered materials display a single ferromagnetic-to-paramagnetic transition. The ordered films display also a saturation magnetization close to 4.8 mB/f.u. and a transition temperature (FM-TC) around 270 K, while the disordered ones have only a 3.7 mB/f.u. saturation magnetization and a FM-TC around 138 K. The differences in their magnetic behaviours are understood based on the distinct local electronic configurations of their Ni/Mn cations.Comment: 15 pages, 5 fig

Investigation of phonon behavior in Pr2NiMnO6 by micro-Raman spectroscopy

The temperature dependence of phonon excitations and the presence of spin phonon coupling in polycrystalline Pr2NiMnO6 samples were studied using micro-Raman spectroscopy and magnetometry. Magnetic properties show a single ferromagnetic-to-paramagnetic transition at 228 K and a saturation magnetization close to 4.95 \muB/f.u.. Three distinct Raman modes at 657, 642, and 511 cm-1 are observed. The phonon excitations show a clear hardening due to anharmonicity from 300 K down to 10 K. Further, temperature dependence of the 657 cm-1 mode shows only a small softening. This reflects the presence of a relatively weak spin-phonon coupling in Pr2NiMnO6 contrary to other double perovskites previously studied.Comment: 10 pages, 4 fig

Search of low-dimensional magnetics on the basis of structural data: spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic zigzag chain compounds In2VO5, beta-Sr(VOAsO4)2,(NH4,K)2VOF4 and alpha-ZnV3O8

A new technique for searching low-dimensional compounds on the basis of structural data is presented. The sign and strength of all magnetic couplings at distances up to 12 A in five predicted new antiferromagnetic zigzag spin-1/2 chain compounds In2VO5, beta-Sr(VOAsO4)2, (NH4)2VOF4, K2VOF4 and alpha-ZnV3O8 were calculated. It was stated that in the compound In2VO5 zigzag spin chains are frustrated, since the ratio (J2/J1) of competing antiferromagnetic (AF) nearest- (J1) and AF next-to-nearest-neighbour (J2) couplings is equal to 1.68 that exceeds the Majumdar-Ghosh point by 1/2. In other compounds the zigzag spin chains are AF magnetically ordered single chains as value of ratios J2/J1 is close to zero. The interchain couplings were analyzed in detail.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure, 1 table, minor change

Evaluating LANDSAT-4 MSS and TM data

Interband line pixel misregistrations were determined for the four MSS bands of the Mistassini, Ontario scene and multitemporal registration of LANDSAT-4 products were tested for two different geocoded scenes. Line and pixel misregistrations are tabulated as determined by the manual ground control points and the digital band to band correlation techniques. A method was developed for determining the spectral information content of TM images for forestry applications

V-V Bond-Length Fluctuations in Vox

We report a significantly stronger suppression of the phonon contribution to the thermal conductivity in VOx than can be accounted for by disorder of the 16 % atomic vacancies present in VO. Since the transition from localized to itinerant electronic behavior is first-order and has been shown to be characterized by bond-length fluctuations in several transition-metal oxides with the perovskite structure, we propose that cooperative V-V bond-length fluctuations play a role in VO similar to the M-O bond-length fluctuations in the perovskites. This model is able to account for the strong suppression of the thermal conductivity, the existence of a pseudogap confirmed by thermoelectric power, an anomalously large Debye-Waller factor, the temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility, and the inability to order atomic vacancies in VO.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Octahedral tilting, monoclinic phase and the phase diagram of PZT

Anelastic and dielectric spectroscopy measurements on PZT close to the morphotropic (MPB) and antiferroelectric boundaries provide new insight in some controversial aspects of its phase diagram. No evidence is found of a border separating monoclinic (M) from rhombohedral (R) phases, in agreement with recent structural studies supporting a coexistence of the two phases over a broad composition range x < 0.5, with the fraction of M increasing toward the MPB. It is also discussed why the observed maximum of elastic compliance appears to be due to a rotational instability of the polarisation and therefore cannot be explained by extrinsic softening from finely twinned R phase alone, but indicates the presence also of M phase, not necessarily homogeneous. A new diffuse transition is found within the ferroelectric phase near x ~ 0.1, at a temperature T_IT higher than the well established boundary T_T to the phase with tilted octahedra. It is proposed that around T_IT the octahedra start rotating in a disordered manner and finally become ordered below T_T. In this interpretation, the onset temperature for octahedral tilting monotonically increases up to the antiferroelectric transition of PbZrO3, and the depression of T_T(x) below x = 0.18 would be a consequence of the partial relieve of the mismatch between the cation radii with the initial stage of tilting below T_IT.Comment: submitted to J. Phys.: Condens. Matte

Crystal-field splitting for low symmetry systems in ab initio calculations

In the framework of the LDA+U approximation we propose the direct way of calculation of crystal-field excitation energy and apply it to La and Y titanates. The method developed can be useful for comparison with the results of spectroscopic measurements because it takes into account fast relaxations of electronic system. For titanates these relaxation processes reduce the value of crystal-field splitting by $\sim30$ as compared with the difference of LDA one electron energies. However, the crystal-field excitation energy in these systems is still large enough to make an orbital liquid formation rather unlikely and experimentally observed isotropic magnetism remains unexplained.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, 3 table

Giant positive magnetoresistance in metallic VOx thin films

We report on giant positive magnetoresistance effect observed in VOx thin films, epitaxially grown on SrTiO3 substrate. The MR effect depends strongly on temperature and oxygen content and is anisotropic. At low temperatures its magnitude reaches 70% in a magnetic field of 5 T. Strong electron-electron interactions in the presence of strong disorder may qualitatively explain the results. An alternative explanation, related to a possible magnetic instability, is also discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures included in the text, references update