We study orbital excitations in the optical absorption spectra of YVO3 and HoVO3. We focus on an orbital absorption band observed at 0.4 eV for polarization E parallel c. This feature is only observed in the intermediate, monoclinic phase. By comparison with the local crystal-field excitations in VOCl and with recent theoretical predictions for the crystal-field levels we show that this absorption band cannot be interpreted in terms of a local crystal-field excitation. We discuss a microscopic model which attributes this absorption band to the exchange of two orbitals on adjacent sites, i.e., to the direct excitation of two orbitons. This model is strongly supported by the observed dependence on polarization and temperature. Moreover, the calculated spectral weight is in good agreement with the experimental result.
We investigate the magnetic instabilities of the two-dimensional model of interacting e_g electrons for hole doping away from two electrons per site in the mean-field approximation. In particular, we address the occurrence of orbitally polarized states due to the inequivalent orbitals, and their interplay with ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic spin order. The role played by the Hund's exchange coupling J_H and by the crystal field orbital splitting E_z in stabilizing one of the competing phases is discussed in detail.
The magnon dispersion in the charge, orbital and spin ordered phase in La(0.5)Sr(1.5)MnO(4) has been studied by means of inelastic neutron scattering. We find an excellent agreement with a magnetic interaction model basing on the CE-type superstructure. The magnetic excitations are dominated by ferromagnetic exchange parameters revealing a nearly-one dimensional character at high energies. The nearest neighbor ferromagnetic interaction in La(0.5)Sr(1.5)MnO(4) is significantly larger than the one in the metallic ferromagnetically ordered manganites. The large ferromagnetic interaction in the ch…
We study a two dimensional, two-band double-exchange model for $e_g$ electrons coupled to Jahn-Teller distortions in the presence of quenched disorder using a recently developed Monte-Carlo technique. In the absence of disorder the half-filled system at low temperatures is an orbitally ordered ferromagnetic insulator with a staggered pattern of Jahn-Teller distortions. We examine the finite temperature transition to the orbitally disordered phase and uncover a qualitative difference between the intermediate and strongly coupled systems, including a thermally driven insulator to metal crossover…
We establish a novel mechanism of stripe formation in doped systems with alternating $t_{2g}$ orbital order --- the stripe takes the form of a ferro-orbitally ordered domain wall separating domains with staggered order and allowing for deconfined motion of holes along the stripe. At a finite level of hole concentration this gives rise to the stability of this solitonic type of stripes, while we show that the phase change of the staggered order by $π$ plays a minor role in orbitally ordered systems. These results shed new light on the physics of doped materials in which orbital degeneracy is pr…
A possible mechanism of electronic phase separation in the systems with orbital ordering is analyzed. We suggest a simple model taking into account an interplay between the delocalization of charge carriers introduced by doping and the cooperative ordering of local lattice distortions. The proposed mechanism is quite similar to the double exchange usually invoked for interpretation of phase separation in doped magnetic oxides like manganites, but can be efficient even in the absence of any magnetic ordering. It is demonstrated that the delocalized charge carriers favor the formation of nanosca…
We present a comprehensive analysis of Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction and crystal-field parameters using the angular dependence of the paramagnetic resonance shift and linewidth in single crystals of La_{0.95}Sr_{0.05}MnO_3 within the orthorhombic Jahn-Teller distorted phase. The Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction (~ 1K) results from the tilting of the MnO_6 octahedra against each other. The crystal-field parameters D and E are found to be of comparable magnitude (~ 1K) with D ~= -E. This indicates a strong mixing of the |3z^2-r^2> and |x^2-y^2> states for the real orbital configuration.
Ultrasound velocity measurements of the orbitally-frustrated GeCo$_2$O$_4$ reveal unusual elastic instabilities due to the phonon-spin coupling within the antiferromagnetic phase. Shear moduli exhibit anomalies arising from the coupling to short-range ferromagnetic excitations. Diplike anomalies in the magnetic-field dependence of elastic moduli reveal magnetic-field-induced orbital order-order transitions. These results strongly suggest the presence of geometrical orbital frustration which causes novel orbital phenomena within the antiferromagnetic phase.
This paper reports on peculiar metamagnetic transitions which take place in antiferromagnetic, charge and orbitally ordered (AFCOO) manganites. At very low temperatures, the virgin magnetization curves of some of these compounds exhibit several, sharp steps giving rise to a staircase-like shape. This staircase effect is shown to be sensitive to various experimental parameters. Several potential interpretations of the staircase effect are discussed in relation to this set of results. A martensitic-like scenario, involving a leading role of the structural distortions associated to the collapse o…
The layered manganese oxides LnBaMn1.96Fe0.04Oy (Ln=Y, Gd, Sm, Nd, Pr, La) have been synthesized for y=5, 5.5 and 6. In the oxygen-saturated state (y=6) they exhibit the charge and orbital order at ambient temperature for Ln=Y, Gd, Sm, but unordered eg-electronic system for Ln=La,Pr,Nd. Fourfold increase of quadrupole splitting was observed owing to the charge and orbital ordering. This is in agreement with the jumplike increase in distortion of the reduced perovskite-like cell for the charge and orbitally ordered manganites compared to the unordered ones. Substitution of 2 percents of Mn by F…
We provide a band structure with low-energy properties consistent with recent photoemission and quantum oscillations measurements on FeSe, assuming mean-field like s and/or d-wave orbital ordering at the structural transition. We show how the resulting model provides a consistent explanation of the temperature dependence of the measured Knight shift and the spin-relaxation rate. Furthermore, the superconducting gap structure obtained from spin fluctuation theory exhibits nodes on the electron pockets, consistent with the 'V'-shaped density of states obtained by tunneling spectroscopy on this m…
By means of synchrotron x-ray and electron diffraction, we studied the structural changes at the charge order transition $T_{CO}$=176 K in the mixed-valence quadruple perovskite (NaMn$_3$)Mn$_4$O$_{12}$. Below $T_{CO}$ we find satellite peaks indicating a commensurate structural modulation with the same propagation vector q =(1/2,0,-1/2) of the CE magnetic order that appears at low temperature, similarly to the case of simple perovskites like La$_{0.5}$Ca$_{0.5}$MnO$_3$. In the present case, the modulated structure together with the observation of a large entropy change at $T_{CO}$ gives evide…
A-site ordered manganites LnBaMn1.96Fe0.04O5 and LnBaMn1.96Fe0.04O6 are investigated by x-ray full-profile diffraction and Moessbauer spectroscopy. Powder samples were oriented with preferred orientation of platy crystallites in the plane of sample surface. March-Dollase function of preferred orientation was employed in analysing both the Rietveld patterns and the Mossbauer spectra. Combined effects of preffered orientation and vibrational anisotropy on the line area asymmetry of Mossbauer doublet are analysed. Constructive and destructive interference between the effects of texture and vibrat…
Elementary excitations in the multipole ordered state, which models the phase III in CeB6, are investigated by means of a generalized Holstein-Primakoff formalism. When different kinds of nearest-neighbor exchange interactions between multipoles are comparable to each other, orbital-flip excitations exhibit almost one-dimensional dispersion along the z axis. With high symmetry of the interactions, zero modes appear due to the macroscopic degeneracy of the ground state. The next-nearest-neighbor dipole-dipole interaction, which stabilizes the magnetic order of the phase III in CeB6, lifts the d…
We report on THz time-domain spectroscopy on multiferroic GeV4S8, which undergoes orbital ordering at a Jahn-Teller transition at 30.5 K and exhibits antiferromagnetic order below 14.6 K. The THz experiments are complemented by dielectric experiments at audio and radio frequencies. We identify a low-lying excitation close to 15 cm-1, which is only weakly temperature dependent and probably corresponds to a molecular excitation within the electronic level scheme of the V4 clusters. In addition, we detect complex temperature-dependent behavior of a low-lying phononic excitation, closely linked to…
Orbital-lattice coupled excitation dynamics in orbitally degenerate correlated systems are examined. We present a theoretical framework, where both local vibronic excitations and superexchange-type inter-site interactions are dealt with on an equal footing. We generalize the spin-wave approximation so as to take local vibronic states into account. Present method is valid from weak to strong Jahn-Teller coupling magnitudes. Two characteristic excitation modes coexist; a low-energy dispersive mode and high-energy multi-peak mode. These are identified as a collective vibronic mode, and Flanck-Con…
Static electrical and magnetic properties of single crystal BaVS_3 were measured over the structural (T_S=240K), metal-insulator (T_MI=69K), and suspected orbital ordering (T_X=30K) transitions. The resistivity is almost isotropic both in the metallic and insulating states. An anomaly in the magnetic anisotropy at T_X signals a phase transition to an ordered low-T state. The results are interpreted in terms of orbital ordering and spin pairing within the lowest crystal field quasi-doublet. The disordered insulator at T_X<T<T_MI is described as a classical liquid of non-magnetic pairs.
Short-range resonating-valence bond states in an orbitally degenerate magnet on a honeycomb lattice is studied. A quantum-dimer model is derived from the Hamiltonian which represents the superexchange interaction and the dynamical Jahn-Teller (JT) effect. We introduce two local units termed "spin-orbital singlet dimer", where two spins in a nearest-neighbor bond form a singlet state associated with an orbital polarization along the bond, and "local JT singlet", where an orbital polarization is quenched due to the dynamical JT effect. A derived quantum-dimer model consists of the hopping of the…
The orbitally degenerate A-site spinel compound FeSc2S4 has been experimentally identified as a ``spin-orbital liquid'', with strong fluctuations of both spins and orbitals. Assuming that the second neighbor spin exchange J2 is the dominant one, we argued in a recent theoretical study [Chen et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 096406 (2009)] that FeSc2S4 is in a local ``spin-orbital singlet'' state driven by spin orbit coupling, close to a quantum critical point, which separates the ``spin-orbital singlet'' phase from a magnetically and orbitally ordered phase. In this paper, we refine further and de…
We study the spectral function of a single hole doped into the (a,b) plane of the Mott insulator LaVO$_3$, with antiferromagnetic (AF) spin order of S=1 spins accompanied by alternating orbital (AO) order of active $\{d_{yz},d_{zx}\}$ orbitals. Starting from the respective t-J model, with spin-orbital superexchange and effective three-site hopping terms, we derive the polaron Hamiltonian and show that a hole couples simultaneously to the collective excitations of the AF/AO phase, magnons and orbitons. Next, we solve this polaron problem using the self-consistent Born approximation and find a s…
We show that the two branches of collective modes discovered recently in under-doped Cuprates with huge spectral weight are a necessary consequence of the loop-current state. Such a state has been shown in earlier experiments to be consistent with the symmetry of the order parameter competing with superconductivity in four families of Cuprates. We also predict a third branch of excitations and suggest techniques to discover it. Using parameters to fit the observed modes, we show that the direction of the effective moments in the ground state lies in a cone at an angle to the c-axis as observed…
We have explored spin, charge and orbitally ordered states in La1-xSrxMnO3 (0 < x < 1/2) using model Hartree-Fock calculations on d-p-type lattice models. At x=1/8, several charge and orbitally modulated states are found to be stable and almost degenerate in energy with a homogeneous ferromagnetic state. The present calculation indicates that a ferromagnetic state with a charge modulation along the c-axis which is consistent with the experiment by Yamada et al. might be responsible for the anomalous behavior around x = 1/8.
The charge response of charge-ordered state in the organic conductor alpha-(BEDT-TTF)2I3 is characterized by dc resistivity, dielectric and optical spectroscopy in different crystallographic directions within the two-dimensional conduction layer. Two dielectric modes are detected. The large mode is related to the phason-like excitation of the 2kF bond-charge density wave which forms in the ab plane. The small dielectric mode is associated with the motion of domain-wall pairs along the a- and b-axes between two types of domains which are created due to inversion symmetry breaking.
We show that the recently observed chirality in the charge ordered phase of TiSe2 can be understood as a form of orbital ordering. The microscopic mechanism driving the transition between the novel chiral state and the non-chiral charge density wave is discussed, and shown to be of a general form, thus allowing for a broad class of materials to display this type of orbitally ordered chiral charge density wave.
Recently two branches of weakly dispersive collective modes have been discovered in under-doped cuprates by inelastic neutron scattering. Polarization analysis reveals that the modes are magnetic excitations. They are only visible for temperatures below the transition temperature to a broken symmetry phase which was discovered earlier and their intensity increases as temperature is further decreased. The broken symmetry phase itself has symmetries consistent with ordering of orbital current loops within a unit-cell without breaking translational symmetry. In order to calculate the collective m…
We present results of GGA+U calculations for the "d^0 magnet" RbO_2, where magnetic properties are due to partially filled oxygen p orbitals. We show that on-site interactions on the oxygen sites lead to a strong tendency towards the formation of an orbitally polarized insulating state, in contrast to the half-metallic behavior predicted for this class of compounds within pure LDA/GGA. The obtained energy differences between different orbitally ordered configurations are sizeable, indicating an orbital ordering temperature higher than the antiferromagnetic Neel temperature of ~15 K. Our result…
We present two different theories for Raman scattering and Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS) in the low temperature ferromagnetic phase of YTiO$_3$ and compare this to the available experimental data. For description of the orbital ground-state and orbital excitations, we consider two models corresponding to two theoretical limits: one where the $t_{2g}$ orbitals are degenerate, and the other where strong lattice distortions split them. In the former model the orbitals interact through superexchange. The resulting superexchange Hamiltonian yields an orbitally ordered ground state with…
We report an inelastic neutron scattering study of acoustic phonons in the charge and orbitally ordered bilayer manganite LaSr$_2$Mn$_2$O$_7$. For excitation energies less than $15\,\rm{meV}$, we observe an abrupt increase (decrease) of the phonon energies (linewidths) of a transverse acoustic phonon branch at $\mathbf{q} = (h, h, 0)$, $h\le0.3$, upon entering the low temperature charge and orbital ordered state ($T_{COO} = 225\,\rm{K}$). This indicates a reduced electron-phonon coupling due to a decrease of electronic states at the Fermi level leading to a partial removal of the Fermi surface…
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 antiferromagn…
The collective behavior of correlated electrons in the VO$_2-$interface layer of LaVO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ heterostructure is studied within a quarter-filled $t_{2g}$-orbital Hubbard model on a square lattice. We argue that the ground state is ferromagnetic driven by the double exchange mechanism, and is orbitally and charge ordered due to a confined geometry and electron correlations. The orbital and charge density waves open gaps on the entire Fermi surfaces of all orbitals. The theory explains the observed insulating behavior of the $p$-type interface between LaVO$_3$ and SrTiO$_3$.
THz time-domain spectroscopy was used to directly probe the low-energy (0.5--5 meV) electrodynamics of the charge-ordered manganite Pr$_{0.7}$Ca$_{0.3}$MnO$_3$. We revealed the existence of a finite peak structure around 2--3 meV well below the charge gap $\sim300$ meV. In analogy to the low-energy optical properties of the well-studied low-dimensional materials, we attributed this observed structure to the collective excitation mode arising from the charge-density-wave condensate. This finding provides the importance role of the quasi-one dimensional nature of the charge and orbital ordering …
Orbitally ordered states evolving coincidentally with structural distortions and magnetic ordering provide a novel route to controlling electronic and magnetic properties of materials through external fields. We report an unprecedented magneto-orbital helix in CaMn7O12, found to give rise to the largest magnetically induced ferroelectric polarisation measured to date. Characterisation of the structural modulation using x-ray diffraction, and analysis of magnetic exchange shows that orbital order is crucial in stabilising a chiral magnetic structure, thus allowing for electric polarisation. Add…
We present exact ground states in spin models with orbital generacy in one and higher dimensions. A method to obtain the exact ground states of the models when the Hamiltonians are composed of the products of two commutable operators is proposed. For the case of the spin-1/2 model with two-fold degeneracy some exact ground states are given, such as the Valence-Bond (VB), the magnetically ordered, and the orbitally ordered states under particular parameter regimes. We also find the models with the higher spin and degeneracy which have the new types of VB ground states in the spin and the orbita…
We present a bond-operator theory (BOT) suitable for description both magnetically ordered phases and paramagnetic phases with singlet ground states in spin-1/2 magnets. Proposed BOT provides a regular expansion of physical quantities in powers of 1/n, where n is the maximum number of bosons which can occupy a unit cell (physical results correspond to n=1). Two variants of BOT are suggested: for two and for four spins in the unit cell (two-spin and four-spin BOTs, respectively). We consider spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet (HAF) on simple square lattice bilayer by the two-spin BOT. Ground-s…
The coupling of phonons with collective modes and single-particle gap excitations associated with one (1d) and two-directional (2d) electronically-driven charge-density wave (CDW) ordering in metallic RTe_3 is investigated as a function of rare-earth ion chemical pressure (R=Tb, Dy, Ho) using femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy. From the T-dependence of the CDW gap Δ_{CDW} and the amplitude mode (AM) we find that while the transition to a 1d-CDW ordered state at T_{c1} initially proceeds in an exemplary mean-field (MF) -like fashion, below T_{c1}, Δ_{CDW} is depressed and departs from the MF b…
We report on the magnetic excitation spectrum of the coupled spin tetrahedral system Cu$_{2}$Te$_{2}$O$_{5}$Cl$_{2}$ using Raman scattering on single crystals. The transition to an ordered state at T$_{N}^{Cl}$=18.2 K evidenced from thermodynamic data leads to the evolution of distinct low-energy magnetic excitations superimposed by a broad maximum. These modes are ascribed to magnons with different degree of localization and a two-magnon continuum. Two of the modes develop a substantial energy shift with decreasing temperature similar to the order parameter of other Neel ordered systems. The …
The interactions between charge and orbitally ordered $d$-electrons are important in many transition metal oxides. We propose an effective energy model for such interactions, parameterized with DFT+U calculations, so that energy contributions of both electronic and lattice origin can be simultaneously accounted for. The model is applied to the low-temperature phase of magnetite, for which we propose a new ground state structure. The effective interactions on the B-lattice of Fe$_3$O$_4$ can be interpreted in terms of electrostatics and short-range Kugel-Khomskii exchange coupling. The frustrat…
We describe a variational theory of multi-band two-dimensional electron gases that captures the interplay between electrostatic confining potentials, orbital-dependent interlayer electronic hopping and electron-electron interactions, and apply it to the d-band two-dimensional electron gases that form near perovskite oxide surfaces and heterojunctions. These multi-band two-dimensional electron gases are prone to the formation of Coulomb-interaction-driven orbitally-ordered nematic ground-states. We find that as the electron density is lowered and interaction effects strengthen, spontaneous orbi…
We have studied magnetic correlations in several compositions of stripe-ordered La2-xSrxNiO4. In this paper we show how polarized-neutron scattering has helped uncover important features of the magnetic ordering and spin dynamics. In particular, polarization analysis has enabled us (1) to characterize a spin reorientation transition, (2) to identify anisotropy gaps in the spin excitation spectrum, and (3) to investigate an anomalous dip in the spin-wave intensity suggestive of coupling between collective spin and charge excitations.
We study the effects of temperature and magnetic field on a two-orbital Hubbard model within dynamical mean field theory. We focus on the quarter filled system, which is a special point in the phase diagram due to orbital degeneracy. At this particular filling the model exhibits two different long-range order mechanisms, namely orbital order and ferromagnetism. Both can cooperate but do not rely on each other's presence, creating a rich phase diagram. Particularly, in the vicinity of the phase transition to an orbitally ordered ferromagnetic state, we observe a strong magnetoresistance effect.…
Here we report on the dynamics of the structural order parameter in a chromium film using synchrotron radiation in response to photo-induced ultra-fast excitations. Following transient optical excitations the effective lattice temperature of the film rises close to the Néel temperature and the charge density wave (CDW) amplitude is reduced. Although we expect the electronic charge ordering to vanish shortly after the excitation we observe that the CDW is never completely disrupted, which is revealed by its unmodified period at elevated temperatures. We attribute the persistence of the CDW to t…
We report detailed 51V NMR spectra in a single crystal of MnV2O4. The vanadium spectrum reveals two peaks in the orbitally ordered state, which arise from different internal hyperfine fields at two different V sublattices. These internal fields evolve smoothly with externally applied field, and show no change in structure that would suggest a change of the orbital ordering. The result is consistent with the orbital ordering model recently proposed by Sarkar et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 216405 (2009)] in which the same orbital that is a mixture of t_2g orbitals rotates by about 45$^\circ$ alte…
At 750K, LaMnO_3 has a cooperative Jahn-Teller (JT) distortion, with Mn atoms in distorted oxygen octahedra. This lifts the degeneracy of the singly-occupied $e_g$ orbitals of the Mn$^{3+}$ ions, which then become orbitally ordered. We use a minimal model to describe the ordered phase at T=0. The on-site Coulomb repulsion $U$ is set to infinity. There are two electronic orbitals and three oxygen vibrational coordinates per unit cell. In addition to spin excitations and phonons, the model has electronic excitations consisting of mis-orienting orbitals on Mn ions. Neglecting coupling to the oxyg…
The electronic structure of NdVO3, YVO3 has been investigated as a function of sample temperature using resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering at the V L3-edge. Most of the observed spectral features are in good agreement with an atomic crystal-field multiplet model. However, a low energy feature is observed at ~0.4 eV that cannot be explained by crystal-field arguments. The resonant behaviour of this feature establishes it as due to excitations of the V t2g states. Moreover, this feature exhibits a strong sample temperature dependence, reaching maximum intensity in the orbitally-ordered pha…
The low-energy excitations in the charge-ordered phase of polycrystalline La0.25Ca0.75MnO3 are explored by frequency-domain terahertz spectroscopy. In the frequency range from 4 cm^-1 to 700 cm^-1 (energies 0.4 meV to 90 meV) and at temperatures down to 5 K, we do not detect any feature that can be associated with the collective response of the spatially modulated charge continuum. In the antiferromagnetically ordered phase, broad absorption bands appear in the conductivity and permittivity spectra around 30 cm^-1 and 100 cm^-1 which are assigned to former acoustic phonons optically activated …
We consider a two-band spinless model describing an excitonic insulator (EI) on the two-dimensional square lattice with anisotropic hopping parameters and electron-phonon (el-ph) coupling, inspired by the EI candidate Ta$_2$NiSe$_5$. We systematically study the nature of the collective excitations in the ordered phase which originates from the interband Coulomb interaction and the el-ph coupling. When the ordered phase is stabilized only by the Coulomb interaction (pure EI phase), its collective response exhibits a massless phase mode in addition to the amplitude mode. We show that in the BEC …
We present a dynamical mean-field study of dynamical susceptibilities in two-band Hubbard model. Varying the model parameters we analyze the two-particle excitations in the normal as well as in the ordered phase, an excitonic condensate. The two-particle DMFT spectra in the ordered phase reveal the gapless Goldstone modes arising from spontaneous breaking of continuous symmetries. We also observe gapped Higgs mode, characterized by vanishing of the gap at the phase boundary. Qualitative changes observed in the spin susceptibility can be used as an experimental probe to identify the excitonic c…
Excitonic insulators host a condensate of electron-hole pairs at equilibrium, giving rise to collective many-body effects. Although several materials have emerged as excitonic insulator candidates, evidence of long-range coherence is lacking and the origin of the ordered phase in these systems remains controversial. Here, using ultrafast pump-probe microscopy, we investigate the possible excitonic insulator Ta$_2$NiSe$_5$. Below 328 K, we observe the anomalous micrometer-scale propagation of coherent modes at velocities of the order of $\sim10^5$ m/s, which we attribute to the hybridization be…
We present a theory of the collective orbital excitation termed orbital wave in perovskite titanates and vanadates with the triply degenerate $t_{2g}$ orbitals. The dispersion relations of the orbital waves for the orbital ordered LaVO$_3$, YVO$_3$ and YTiO$_3$ are examined in the effective spin-orbital coupled Hamiltonians associated with the Jahn-Teller type couplings. We propose possible scattering processes for the Raman and inelastic neutron scatterings from the orbital wave and calculate the scattering spectra for titanates and vanadates. It is found that both the excitation spectra and …
Two B-site ordered double perovskites, La2LiMoO6 and Ba2YMoO6, based on the S = 1/2 ion, Mo5+, have been investigated in the context of geometric magnetic frustration. Powder neutron diffraction, heat capacity, susceptibility, muon spin relaxation(_SR), and 89Y NMR- including MAS NMR- data have been collected. La2LiMoO6 deviates strongly from simple Curie-Weiss paramagnetic behavior below 150K and zero-field cooled/ field cooled (ZFC/FC)irreversibility occurs below 20K with a weak, broad susceptibility maximum near 5K in the ZFC data. A Curie-Weiss fit shows a reduced mu_eff=1.42μ_B, (spin onl…
The dynamics of charge-ordered states is one of the key issues in underdoped cuprate high-temperature superconductors, but static short-range charge-order (CO) domains have been detected in almost all cuprates. We probe the dynamics across the CO (and structural) transition in La$_{1.48}$Nd$_{0.4}$Sr$_{0.12}$CuO$_{4}$ by measuring nonequilibrium charge transport, or resistance $R$ as the system responds to a change in temperature and to an applied magnetic field. We find evidence for metastable states, collective behavior, and criticality. The collective dynamics in the critical regime indicat…
Charge dynamics in a dimer Mott insulating system, where a non-polar dimer-Mott (DM) phase and a polar charge-ordered (CO) phase compete with each other, are studied. In particular, collective charge excitations are analyzed in the three different models where the internal-degree of freedom in a dimer is taken into account. Collective charge excitation exists both in the non-polar DM phase and the polar CO phase, and softens in the phase boundary. This mode is observable by the optical conductivity spectra where the light polarization is parallel to the electric polarization in the polar CO ph…
