Jahn-Teller effect and stability of the charge-ordered state in La1-xCaxMnO3 (0.5<x<0.9) manganites

The longitudinal ultrasonic sound velocity and attenuation, the resistivity, and lattice parameters were studied as a function of temperature from 30 K to 300 K in La1-xCaxMnO3 (0.5<x<0.9). For all the samples, a dramatic stiffening of the sound velocity below the charge ordering transition temperature TCO was directly driven by distinct changes of the lattice parameters due to the formation of long range ordering of Jahn-Teller distorted MnO6 octahedra. The relative change of the sound velocity (DeltaV/V) below TCO depends on the Ca concentration x and reaches the maximum at x=0.75, implying that the effective strength of electron-lattice interaction with the Jahn-Teller distortion is the strongest at x=0.75 and hence the charge ordered state is mostly stabilized near x=0.75 and insensitive to the application of a magnetic field, which is supported by the charge transport properties under high magnetic fields up to 14T.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, PD

Commensurate-Incommensurate transition in the melting process of the orbital ordering in Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3: neutron diffraction study

The melting process of the orbital order in Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3 single crystal has been studied in detail as a function of temperature by neutron diffraction. It is demonstrated that a commensurate-incommensurate (C-IC) transition of the orbital ordering takes place in a bulk sample, being consistent with the electron diffraction studies. The lattice structure and the transport properties go through drastic changes in the IC orbital ordering phase below the charge/orbital ordering temperature Tco/oo, indicating that the anomalies are intimately related to the partial disordering of the orbital order, unlike the consensus that it is related to the charge disordering process. For the same T range, partial disorder of the orbital ordering turns on the ferromagnetic spin fluctuations which were observed in a previous neutron scattering study.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, REVTeX, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Circadian Organization in Hemimetabolous Insects

The circadian system of hemimetabolous insects is reviewed in respect to the locus of the circadian clock and multioscillatory organization. Because of relatively easy access to the nervous system, the neuronal organization of the clock system in hemimetabolous insects has been studied, yielding identification of the compound eye as the major photoreceptor for entrainment and the optic lobe for the circadian clock locus. The clock site within the optic lobe is inconsistent among reported species; in cockroaches the lobula was previously thought to be a most likely clock locus but accessory medulla is recently stressed to be a clock center, while more distal part of the optic lobe including the lamina and the outer medulla area for the cricket. Identification of the clock cells needs further critical studies. Although each optic lobe clock seems functionally identical, in respect to photic entrainment and generation of the rhythm, the bilaterally paired clocks form a functional unit. They interact to produce a stable time structure within individual insects by exchanging photic and temporal information through neural pathways, in which serotonin and pigment-dispersing factor (PDF) are involved as chemical messengers. The mutual interaction also plays an important role in seasonal adaptation of the rhythm

Spin excitations used to probe the nature of the exchange coupling in the magnetically ordered ground state of Pr0.5_{0.5}Ca0.5_{0.5}MnO3_{3}

We have used time-of-flight inelastic neutron scattering to measure the spin wave spectrum of the canonical half-doped manganite Pr$_{0.5}$Ca$_{0.5}$MnO$_{3}$, in its magnetic and orbitally ordered phase. The data, which cover multiple Brillouin zones and the entire energy range of the excitations, are compared with several different models that are all consistent with the CE-type magnetic order, but arise through different exchange coupling schemes. The Goodenough model, i.e. an ordered state comprising strong nearest neighbor ferromagnetic interactions along zig-zag chains with antiferromagnetic inter-chain coupling, provides the best description of the data, provided that further neighbor interactions along the chains are included. We are able to rule out a coupling scheme involving formation of strongly bound ferromagnetic dimers, i.e. Zener polarons, on the basis of gross features of the observed spin wave spectrum. A model with weaker dimerization reproduces the observed dispersion but can be ruled out on the basis of discrepancies between the calculated and observed structure factors at certain positions in reciprocal space. Adding further neighbor interactions results in almost no dimerization, i.e. recovery of the Goodenough model. These results are consistent with theoretical analysis of the degenerate double exchange model for half-doping, and provide a recipe for how to interpret future measurements away from half-doping, where degenerate double exchange models predict more complex ground states.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figure

Ultrafast Photoinduced Formation of Metallic State in a Perovskite-type Manganite with Short Range Charge and Orbital Order

Femtosecond reflection spectroscopy was performed on a perovskite-type manganite, Gd0.55Sr0.45MnO3, with the short-range charge and orbital order (CO/OO). Immediately after the photoirradiation, a large increase of the reflectivity was detected in the mid-infrared region. The optical conductivity spectrum under photoirradiation obtained from the Kramers-Kronig analyses of the reflectivity changes demonstrates a formation of a metallic state. This suggests that ferromagnetic spin arrangements occur within the time resolution (ca. 200 fs) through the double exchange interaction, resulting in an ultrafast CO/OO to FM switching.Comment: 4 figure

Comment on ''the controlled charge ordering and evidence of the metallic state in Pr0.65_{0.65}Ca0.35_{0.35}MnO3_{3} films''

In a recent paper (2000 \QTR{it}{J. Phys.: Condens. Matter} \QTR{bf}{12} L133) Lee \QTR{it}{et al.} have studied the transport properties of Pr$_{0.65}$Ca$_{0.35}$MnO$_{3}$ thin films. They claimed that they are able to controlled the charge-ordered (CO) state by the lattice strains. We propose herein another alternative since another indexation of the orientation of the film can be found leading to almost no distortion of the cell, as compared to the bulk compound.Comment: 2 page

Novel stripe-type charge ordering in the metallic A-type antiferromagnet Pr{0.5}Sr{0.5}MnO{3}

We demonstrate that an A-type antiferromagnetic (AFM) state of Pr{0.5}Sr{0.5}MnO{3} exhibits a novel charge ordering which governs the transport property. This charge ordering is stripe-like, being characterized by a wave vector q ~ (0,0,0.3) with very anisotropic correlation parallel and perpendicular to the stripe direction. This charge ordering is specific to the manganites with relatively wide one-electron band width (W) which often exhibit a metallic A-type AFM state, and should be strictly distinguished from the CE-type checkerboard-like charge ordering which is commonly observed in manganites with narrower W such as La{1-x}Ca{x}MnO{3} and Pr{1-x}Ca{x}MnO{3}.Comment: REVTeX4, 5 pages, 4 figure

Growth, transport, and magnetic properties of Pr0.67Ca0.33MnO3 thin films

We have grown Pr0.67Ca0.33MnO3 thin films on LaAlO3 using pulsed laser deposition. Below 50 K, a field induced insulator-metal transition results in changes in resistivity of at least 6 orders of magnitude. The field induced conducting state is metastable at low temperature. The temperature dependence of the resistivity exhibits considerable hysteresis in a field of 40 kOe but becomes reversible in a field of 80 kOe