Pressure-induced melting of the orbital polaron lattice in La1-xSrxMnO3

We report on the pressure effects on the orbital polaron lattice in the lightly doped manganites $\mathrm{La_{1-x}Sr_xMnO_{3}}$, with $x\sim 1/8$. The dependence of the orbital polaron lattice on $negative$ chemical pressure is studied by substituting Pr for La in $\mathrm{(La_{1-y}Pr_y)_{7/8}Sr_{1/8}MnO_{3}}$. In addition, we have studied its hydrostatic pressure dependence in $\mathrm{(La_{0.9}Pr_{0.1})_{7/8}Sr_{1/8}MnO_{3}}$. Our results strongly indicate that the hopping $t$ significantly contributes to the stabilization of the orbital polaron lattice and that the orbital polarons are ferromagnetic objects which get stabilized by local double exchange processes. The analysis of short range orbital correlations and the verification of the Grueneisen scaling by hard x-ray, specific heat and thermal expansion data reinforces our conclusions.Comment: 7 figure

Orbiton-mediated multi-phonon scattering in La1−x_{1-x}Srx_xMnO3_3

We report on Raman scattering measurements of single crystalline La$_{1-x}$Sr$_x$MnO$_3$ ($x$=0, 0.06, 0.09 and 0.125), focusing on the high frequency regime. We observe multi-phonon scattering processes up to fourth-order which show distinct features: (i) anomalies in peak energy and its relative intensity and (ii) a pronounced temperature-, polarization-, and doping-dependence. These features suggest a mixed orbiton-phonon nature of the observed multi-phonon Raman spectra.Comment: 6pages, 6figures, submitted to PR

Согласование показателей свойств руды и режимов измельчения

В случае соответствия максимумов измельчительной характеристики мельницы и моды распределения вкрапленности железной руды наблюдается повышенное раскрытие рудного минерала по сравнению, если такого соответствия нет.В случае соответствия максимумов измельчительной характеристики мельницы и моды распределения вкрапленности железной руды наблюдается повышенное раскрытие рудного минерала по сравнению, если такого соответствия нет

23Na NMR study of sodium order in Na xCoO 2 with 22 K Néel temperature

We report a systematic study of the c-lattice parameter in the Na xCoO 2 phases versus Na content x>0.5, in which sodium always displays ordered arrangements. This allows us to single out the first phase which exhibits an antiferromagnetic order at a Néel temperature T N=22 K, which is found to occur for x0.77(1). Pure samples of this phase have been studied both as aligned powders and single crystals. They exhibit identical 23Na NMR spectra in which three sets of Na sites could be fully resolved, and are found to display T dependencies of their NMR shifts, which scale with each other. This allows us to establish that the T variation of the shifts is due to the paramagnetism of the Co sites with formal charge state larger than 3 +. The existence of a sodium site with axial charge symmetry and the intensity ratio between the sets of 23Na lines permits us to reveal that the two-dimensional structure of the Na order corresponds to ten Na sites on top of a thirteen-Co-sites unit cell, that is with x=10/130.77. This structure fits with that determined from local density calculations and involves triangles of three Na sites located on top of Co sites [so-called Na1 sites]. The associated ordering of the Na vacancies is quite distinct from that found for x<0.75. © 2012 American Physical Society

Existence of orbital polarons in ferromagnetic insulating La1−x_{1-x}Srx_xMnO3_{3} (0.11<x<<x<0.14) evidenced by giant phonon softening

We present an inelastic light scattering study of single crystalline (La$_{1-y}$Pr$_y$)$_{1-x}$Sr$_{x}$MnO$_3$ ($0\leq x\leq0.14$,$y=0$ and $x=1/8$,$0\leq y\leq0.5$). A giant softening up to 20 - 30 cm$^{-1}$ of the Mn-O breathing mode has been observed only for the ferromagnetic insulating (FMI) samples ($0.11\leq x \leq 0.14$) upon cooling below the Curie temperature. With increasing Pr-doping the giant softening is gradually suppressed. This is attributed to a coupling of the breathing mode to orbital polarons which are present in the FMI phase.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Melting of the orbital order in LaMnO3 probed by NMR

The Mn spin correlations were studied near the O′-O phase transition at TJT=750 K up to 950 K with 17O and 139La NMR in a stoichiometric LaMnO3 crystalline sample. The measured local hyperfine fields originate from the electron density transferred from the eg and t2g orbitals to the 2s(O) and 6s(La) orbits, respectively. By probing the oxygen nuclei, we show that the correlations of the Mn spins are ferromagnetic in the ab plane and robust up to TJT, whereas along the c axis they are antiferromagnetic and start to melt below TJT, at about 550 K. Above TJT, the ferromagnetic Mn-Mn exchange interaction is found isotropic. The room-temperature orbital mixing angle, φNMR= 109±1.5â̂̃, of the eg ground state is close to the reported value which was deduced from structural data on Jahn-Teller distorted MnO6 octahedra. For T>TJT, LaMnO3 can be described in terms of nonpolarized eg orbitals since both eg orbitals are equally occupied. © 2013 American Physical Society

Epitaxy and magnetotransport of Sr_2FeMoO_6 thin films

By pulsed-laser deposition epitaxial thin films of Sr_2FeMoO_6 have been pre- pared on (100) SrTiO_3 substrates. Already for a deposition temperature of 320 C epitaxial growth is achieved. Depending on deposition parameters the films show metallic or semiconducting behavior. At high (low) deposition temperature the Fe,Mo sublattice has a rock-salt (random) structure. The metallic samples have a large negative magnetoresistance which peaks at the Curie temperature. The magnetic moment was determined to 4 mu_B per formula unit (f.u.), in agreement with the expected value for an ideal ferrimagnetic arrangement. We found an ordinary Hall coefficient of -6.01x10^{-10} m^3/As at 300 K, corresponding to an electronlike charge-carrier density of 1.3 per Fe,Mo-pair. In the semiconducting films the magnetic moment is reduced to 1 mu_B/f.u. due to disorder in the Fe,Mo sublattice. In low fields an anomalous holelike contribution dominates the Hall voltage, which vanishes at low temperatures for the metallic films only.Comment: Institute of Physics, University of Mainz, Germany, 4 pages, including 5 pictures and 1 Table, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Transport and superconducting properties of Fe-based superconductors: SmFeAs(O1-x Fx) versus Fe1+y (Te1-x, Sex)

We present transport and superconducting properties - namely resistivity, magnetoresistivity, Hall effect, Seebeck effect, thermal conductivity, upper critical field - of two different families of Fe-based superconductors, which can be viewed in many respects as end members: SmFeAs(O1-xFx) with the largest Tc and the largest anisotropy and Fe1+y(Te1-x,Sex), with the largest Hc2, the lowest Tc and the lowest anisotropy. In the case of the SmFeAs(O1-xFx) series, we find that a single band description allows to extract an approximated estimation of band parameters such as carrier density and mobility from experimental data, although the behaviour of Seebeck effect as a function of doping demonstrates that a multiband description would be more appropriate. On the contrary, experimental data of the Fe1+y(Te1-x,Sex) series exhibit a strongly compensated behaviour, which can be described only within a multiband model. In the Fe1+y(Te1-x,Sex) series, the role of the excess Fe, tuned by Se stoichiometry, is found to be twofold: it dopes electrons in the system and it introduces localized magnetic moments, responsible for Kondo like scattering and likely pair-breaking of Cooper pairs. Hence, excess Fe plays a crucial role also in determining superconducting properties such as the Tc and the upper critical field Bc2. The huge Bc2 values of the Fe1+y(Te1-x,Sex) samples are described by a dirty limit law, opposed to the clean limit behaviour of the SmFeAs(O1-xFx) samples. Hence, magnetic scattering by excess Fe seems to drive the system in the dirty regime, but its detrimental pairbreaking role seems not to be as severe as predicted by theory. This issue has yet to be clarified, addressing the more fundamental issue of the interplay between magnetism and superconductivity

Optical study of orbital excitations in transition-metal oxides

The orbital excitations of a series of transition-metal compounds are studied by means of optical spectroscopy. Our aim was to identify signatures of collective orbital excitations by comparison with experimental and theoretical results for predominantly local crystal-field excitations. To this end, we have studied TiOCl, RTiO3 (R=La, Sm, Y), LaMnO3, Y2BaNiO5, CaCu2O3, and K4Cu4OCl10, ranging from early to late transition-metal ions, from t_2g to e_g systems, and including systems in which the exchange coupling is predominantly three-dimensional, one-dimensional or zero-dimensional. With the exception of LaMnO3, we find orbital excitations in all compounds. We discuss the competition between orbital fluctuations (for dominant exchange coupling) and crystal-field splitting (for dominant coupling to the lattice). Comparison of our experimental results with configuration-interaction cluster calculations in general yield good agreement, demonstrating that the coupling to the lattice is important for a quantitative description of the orbital excitations in these compounds. However, detailed theoretical predictions for the contribution of collective orbital modes to the optical conductivity (e.g., the line shape or the polarization dependence) are required to decide on a possible contribution of orbital fluctuations at low energies, in particular in case of the orbital excitations at about 0.25 eV in RTiO3. Further calculations are called for which take into account the exchange interactions between the orbitals and the coupling to the lattice on an equal footing.Comment: published version, discussion of TiOCl extended to low T, improved calculation of orbital excitation energies in TiOCl, figure 16 improved, references updated, 33 pages, 20 figure