Strong magneto-elastic coupling and polar properties in orthorhombic Eu1-xYxMnO3 manganite
J. Agostinho Moreira, A. Almeida, W. S. Ferreira, J. P. Araújo, A. M. Pereira, M. R. Chaves, M. M. R. Costa, V. A. Khomchenko, J. Kreisel, D. Chernyshov, S. M. … 展开作者
J. Agostinho Moreira, A. Almeida, W. S. Ferreira, J. P. Araújo, A. M. Pereira, M. R. Chaves, M. M. R. Costa, V. A. Khomchenko, J. Kreisel, D. Chernyshov, S. M. F. Vilela And P. B. Tavares
This work reports an experimental investigation of the magneto-elastic coupling and polarization character of magnetic phases of the orthorhombic Eu1-xYxMnO3 system at low temperatures. The temperature dependence of the polarization reversal curves clearly reveals the existence of a reentrant improper ferroelectric phase for x = 0.2 and 0.3. Although a ferroelectric phase is also stable for x = 0.4, we have no experimental evidence that it vanishing at finite temperatures. From these results and those obtained from other experimental techniques, the corresponding (x,T) phase diagram was traced, yet yielding significant differences with regard to previous reports. An expressive magneto-elastic coupling is revealed by changes observed in both Mn-O bond lengths and Mn-O1-Mn bond angle at the magnetic phase transitions, obtained by temperature dependence of synchrotron x-ray diffraction experiments. Furthermore, signatures of the lattice deformations across the magnetic phase transitions were evidenced by anomalies in the temperature dependence of the lattice mode involving rotations of the MnO6 octahedra. These anomalies confirm the important role of the spin-phonon coupling in these materials.
Recently we have reported the observation of colossal magnetostriction effect in HoMn2O5 single crystals. Besides we have made the supposition for possible correlation between the peculiarities, observed in the field depended polarization measurements, and the colossal magnetostriction effect at a 4.2 K temperature. In this article we present our results received by polarization and magnetostriction measurements on HoMn2O5 and TbMn2O5 single crystals and the strong correlation between magnetostriction and polarization phase transition for these two compounds. The origin of this correlation is …
We argue that the homogeneous distribution of spins in the spin-spiral state of orthorhombic manganites is deformed by the relativistic spin-orbit interaction. The thus induced spin-spiral inhomogeneity gives rise to the ferroelectric response of the purely electronic origin in even-periodic magnetic structures. The mechanism is generic and explains the appearance of ferroelectricity in the twofold periodic structure of HoMnO3 as well as the fourfold periodic structure of TbMnO3. Nevertheless, odd-periodic magnetic structures preserve the inversion symmetry and thus are not ferroelectric. Our …
In magnetic compounds with Jahn-Teller (JT) ions (such as Mn3+ or Cu2+), the ordering of the electron or hole orbitals is associated with cooperative lattice distortions. There the role of JT effect, although widely recognised, is still elusive in the ground state properties. We suggest that, in these materials, there exist elementary excitations whose energy spectrum is described in terms of the total angular momentum eigenstates and is quantised as in quantum rotors found in JT centers. We observed features originating from these excitations in the optical spectra of a model compound LaMnO3 …
The single layered manganite Pr$_{0.22}$Sr$_{1.78}$MnO$_4$ undergoes structural transition from high temperature tetragonal phase to low temperature orthorhombic phase below room temperature. The orthorhombic phase was reported to have two structural variants with slightly different lattice parameters and Mn-3$d$ levels show orbital ordering within both the variants, albeit having mutually perpendicular ordering axis. In addition to orbital ordering, the orthorhombic variants also order antiferromagnetically with different Néel temperatures. Our magnetic investigation on the polycrystalline sa…
By directly measuring electrical hysteresis loops using the Positive-Up Negative-Down (PUND) method, we accurately determined the remanent ferroelectric polarization Pr of orthorhombic RMnO3 (R = Ho, Tm, Yb, and Lu) compounds below their E-type spin ordering temperatures. We found that LuMnO3 has the largest Pr of 0.17 uC/cm^2 at 6 K in the series, indicating that its single-crystal form can produce a Pr of at least 0.6 \muuC/cm^2 at 0 K. Furthermore, at a fixed temperature, Pr decreases systematically with increasing rare earth ion radius from R = Lu to Ho, exhibiting a strong correlation wit…
We use ab initio electronic structure calculations within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA+U) to density functional theory (DFT) to determine the microscopic exchange interactions in the series of orthorhombic rare-earth manganites, o-$R$MnO$_3$. Our motivation is to construct a model Hamiltonian (excluding effects due to spin-orbit coupling), which can provide an accurate description of the magnetism in these materials. First, we consider TbMnO$_3$, which exhibits a spiral magnetic order at low temperatures. We map the exchange couplings in this compound onto a Heisenberg Hamiltoni…
With the increase of the lattice distortion, the orthorhombic manganites $R$MnO$_3$ ($R$$=$ La, Pr, Nd, Tb, and Ho) are known to undergo the phase transition from the layered A-type antiferromagnetic (AFM) state to the zigzag E-type AFM state. We consider the microscopic origin of this transition. Our approach consists of the two parts. First, we construct an effective lattice fermion model for the manganese 3d-bands and derive parameters of this model from the first-principles electronic structure calculations. Then, we solve this model in the Hartree-Fock approximation (HFA) and analyze the …
We present a rationalization of the Raman spectra of orthorhombic and rhombohedral, stoichiometric and doped, manganese perovskites. In particular we study RMnO3 (R= La, Pr, Nd, Tb, Ho, Er, Y and Ca) and the different phases of Ca or Sr doped RMnO3 compounds as well as cation deficient RMnO3. The spectra of manganites can be understood as combinations of two kinds of spectra corresponding to two structural configurations of MnO6 octahedra and independently of the average structure obtained by diffraction techniques. The main peaks of compounds with regular MnO6 octahedra, as CaMnO3, highly Ca …
Obtaining strong magnetoelectric couplings in bulk materials and heterostructures is an ongoing challenge. We demonstrate that manganite heterostructures of the form ${\rm (Insulator)/(LaMnO_3)_n/(CaMnO_3)_n/(Insulator)}$ show strong multiferroicity in magnetic manganites where ferroelectric polarization is realized by charges leaking from ${\rm LaMnO_3}$ to ${\rm CaMnO_3}$ due to repulsion. Here, an effective nearest-neighbor electron-electron (electron-hole) repulsion (attraction) is generated by cooperative electron-phonon interaction. Double exchange, when a particle virtually hops to its …
The microscopic origin of the magnetically-driven ferroelectricity in collinear AFM-E orthorhombic manganites is explained by means of first-principles Wannier functions. We show that the polarization is mainly determined by the "asymmetric electron hopping" of orbitally-polarized Mn eg states, implicit in the peculiar in-plane zig-zag spin arrangement in the AFM-E configuration. In ortho-HoMnO3, Wannier function centers are largely displaced with respect to corresponding ionic positions, implying that the final polarization is strongly affected by a purely electronic contribution, at variance…
We analyze the symmetry changes of the paramagnetic to the A-type antiferromagnetic and to the ferromagnetic phase transitions in undoped and moderately doped LaMnO$_3$, respectively. We show that in the orthorhombic-distorted perovskite manganites the phase separation at low doping is associated with the noncollinear nature of the magnetic orders permitted by symmetry. A simple model for the competition between the two phase transitions is put forward within the framework of Landau theory of phase transitions.
Giant oxygen isotope effects observed in colossal magnetoresistance manganites are investigated by employing the combined model of the double exchange and interacting lattice polaron mechanism. We have shown that the isotope effects on $ T_C$ in the metallic phase and $ T_{CO}$ in the charge ordered phase of manganites can be explained well in terms of the double exchange and polaron narrowing factors with reasonable physical parameters.
We present a rectifying manganite-titanate heterojunction exhibiting a magnetic field tunable depletion layer. This creates a large positive magnetocapacitance, a direct measure of the field-induced reduction of the effective depletion width across the junction. Furthermore, the reduction of the junction barrier shifts the forward bias characteristics, giving exponentially-enhanced differential magnetoresistance, occurring despite the absence of a spin filter. These results provide a unique probe of a Mott insulator/band insulator interface, and further suggest new electronic devices incorpora…
We argue that many aspects of improper ferroelectric activity in orthorhombic manganites can be rationalized by considering the limit of infinite intra-atomic splitting between the majority- and minority-spin states (or the double exchange limit), which reduces the problem to the analysis of a spinless double exchange (DE) Hamiltonian. We apply this strategy to the low-energy model, derived from the first-principles calculations, and combine it with the Berry-phase theory of electric polarization. We start with the simplest two-orbital model, describing the behavior of the eg bands, and apply …
We present a small-but-sizeable magnetic polaron picture where transport at high temperatures is activated while at low temperatures it is band-like. We show that both double exchange and finite bandwidth effects are important to understand colossal magnetoresistance as well as the coincidence of the metal-insulator and the ferromagnetic transitions in manganites. The magnetic transition is explained using band-like motion of the polarons.
Based on the combined model of the double exchange and the polaron, we have studied the small-to-large polaron crossover transition and explored its effects on the magnetic and transport properties in colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) manganites. We have used the variational Lang-Firsov canonical transformation, and shown that the magnetic and transport properties of both high and low $T_C$ manganites are well described in terms of a single formalism. We have reproduced the rapid resistivity drop below $T_C$, a realistic CMR ratio, and the {\it first-order-like} sharp magnetic phase transition,…
Temperature- and magnetic field-dependent electrical noise and electrical resistivity measurements were carried out on epitaxial thin films of a large bandwidth La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 and a disordered intermediate bandwidth (La0.5Pr0.2)Ba0.3MnO3 manganite system. The power spectraldensity was dominated by 1/f-noise. This 1/f-noise was observed to follow the overall temperature dependence of the resistivity. Moreover, in these compounds the magneto-noise effect was found to be of nearly the same magnitude as the magnetoresistance. This direct correlation between magneto-noise and magnetoresistance sugg…
We report the magnetotransport characteristics of a trilayer ferromagnetic tunnel junction build of an electron doped manganite (La_0.7Ce_0.3MnO_3) and a hole doped manganite (La_0.7Ca_0.3MnO_3). At low temperatures the junction exhibits a large positive tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR), irrespective of the bias voltage. At intermediate temperatures below T_C the sign of the TMR is dependent on the bias voltage across the junction. The magnetoresistive characteristics of the junction strongly suggest that La_0.7Ce_0.3MnO_3 is a minority spin carrier ferromagnet with a high degree of spin pola…
We have studied the low-frequency dielectric properties of the phase-separated manganite Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 as a function of applied magnetic field in the low temperature phase-separated state. The dielectric constant is strongly field dependent and also depends on the magnetic field history of the sample. The dielectric behavior appears to be associated with the hopping of polaronic charge carriers, and we can derive the field dependent hopping energy barrier from the frequency dependence of the dielectric constant. This analysis allows us to associate the metal-insulator transition observed in t…
The Monte Carlo Ferromagnetic Ising model was used to study the electrical properties of manganese oxides due to the charge ordering phase occurring at doping, x = 0.5. The half-doped manganites have an insulator antiferromagnetic ground state. We calculated the internal energy, specific heat, resistivity and the magneto-resistance, MR, with parallel and anti-parallel applied magnetic fields. Our simulation reveals that the resistivity decreases exponentially and the electric current increases with increasing temperature according the free charge increase, to transport from an insulator to con…
The metallic or insulating nature of the paramagnetic phase of the colossal-magnetoresistance manganites is investigated via a double exchange Hamiltonian with diagonal disorder. Mobility edge trajectory is determined with the transfer matrix method. Density of states calculations indicate that random hopping alone is not sufficient to induce Anderson localization at the Fermi level with 20-30% doping. We argue that the metal-insulator transtion is likely due to the formation of localized polarons from nonuniform extended states as the effective band width is reduced by random hoppings and ele…
The persistent proximity of insulating and metallic phases, a puzzling characterestic of manganites, is argued to arise from the self organization of the twofold degenerate e_g orbitals of Mn into localized Jahn-Teller(JT) polaronic levels and broad band states due to the large electron - JT phonon coupling present in them. We describe a new two band model with strong correlations and a dynamical mean-field theory calculation of equilibrium and transport properties. These explain the insulator metal transition and colossal magnetoresistance quantitatively, as well as other consequences of two …
It has been observed that the low temperature magnetoresistance behaviour in polycrystalline colossal magnetoresistive (CMR) manganites differ significantly from the single crystals. The polycrystalline samples show large magnetoresistance at temperatures much below the ferromagnetic transition temperature where the magnetoresistance of single crystals is very small. This has conventionally been attributed to spin polarised tunnelling at the grain boundaries in polycrystalline samples. In this paper we show the existence of a variable range hopping behaviour in resistivity at low temperatures …
Structural, magnetic and electric properties of a metal-ordered perovskite YBaMn2O6 have been studied by means of powder X-ray diffraction, DSC, magnetic susceptibility, and electric resistivity. It is found that this material undergoes a 1st order structural phase transition at Tc1=520 K, from a pseudo orthorhombic (monoclinic) phase to a pseudo tetragonal (monoclinic) one. Accompanied by this transition, the susceptibility exhibits a sharp drop, where ferromagnetic exchange interaction becomes antiferromagnetic. Furthermore, two more transitions, a metal-insulator transition at Tc2=480 K and…
Extensive experimental results are presented on the multi-scale phase modulation phenomena observed in colossal magnetoresistance manganites. Two key types of phase inhomogeneities directly relevant to the colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) are discussed. The first type involves micrometer-scale coexistence of structurally and electronically different phases. We present extensive experimental data for a prototypical system exhibiting such a phase coexistence, (La,Pr)$_{5/8}$Ca$_{3/8}$MnO$_{3}$. These data reveal that percolative transport phenomena play the key role in the metal-insulator transi…
The colossal magnetoresistance in manganites AMnO_3 is studied from the viewpoint of multicritical phenomena. To understand the complicated interplay of various phases, we study the Ginzburg-Landau theory in terms of both the mean-field approximation and the renormalization-group analysis to compare with the observed phase diagram. Several novel features, such as the first-order ferromagnetic transition, and the dip in the transition temperature near the multicritical point, can be understood as driven by enhanced fluctuations near the multicritical point. Furthermore, we obtain a universal sc…
We have performed a systematic analysis of the voltage and temperature dependence of the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) of grain boundaries (GB) in the manganites. We find a strong decrease of the TMR with increasing voltage and temperature. The decrease of the TMR with increasing voltage scales with an increase of the inelastic tunneling current due to multi-step inelastic tunneling via localized defect states in the tunneling barrier. This behavior can be described within a three-current model for magnetic tunnel junctions that extends the two-current Julliere model by adding an inelastic…
In view of recent experiments, indicating the spatial coexistence of conducting and insulating regions in the ferromagnetic metallic phase of doped manganites, we propose a refined mixed-phase description. The model is based on the competition of a double-exchange driven metallic component and a polaronic insulating component, whose volume fractions and carrier concentrations are determined self-consistently by requiring equal pressure and chemical potential. The resulting phase diagram as well as the order of the phase transition are in very good agreement with measured data. In addition, mod…
We use the double exchange (DE) model via degenerate orbitals and tight-binding approximation to study the magnetoconductivity of a canted A-phase of pseudo-cubic manganites. It is argued that the model is applicable in a broad concentration range for manganites with the tolerance factor, t, close to one. As for the substitutional disorder, scattering on random Jahn-Teller distortions of MnO6 octahedra is chosen. We emphasize an intimate correlation between the carrier concentration and resistivity value of metallic manganites. Magnetoresistance as a function of magnetization is calculated for…
We review colossal magnetoresistance in single phase manganites, as related to the field sensitive spin charge interactions and phase separation; the rectifying property and negative/positive magnetoresistance in manganite/Nb:SrTiO3 pn junctions in relation to the special interface electronic structure; magnetoelectric coupling in manganite/ferroelectric structures that takes advantage of strain, carrier density, and magnetic field sensitivity; tunneling magnetoresistance in tunnel junctions with dielectric, ferroelectric, and organic semiconductor spacers using the fully spin polarized nature…
The effect of giant dielectric permittivity due to phase separation accompanied by charged inhomogeneities in low-doped manganites is discussed. The effect appears in the vicinity of the second-order magnetic phase transition and is caused by long-range Coulomb forces. The long-range Coulomb interaction is responsible for the formation of inhomogeneous charged states and determines their characteristic length scales. We derive the phase diagram of the inhomogeneous charged states in the framework of the phenomenological theory of phase transitions. The large value of the static dielectric func…
Magnetization, magnetoresistance, and magnetodielectric measurements have been carried out on the half doped charge ordered manganite, Pr_0.5Ca_0.5MnO_3. The low temperature state is found to be strongly dependent on the oxygen stoichiometry whereas the high temperature state remains almost unaltered. A disorder driven phase separation in the low temperature state is noticed in the magnetic, magnetoresistance, and dielectric measurements which is attributed to the oxygen deficiency in the compound. A considerable magnetodielectric (MD) effect is noticed close to room temperature at 280 K which…
We present the discovery and refinement by neutron powder diffraction of a new magnetic phase in the Na1-xCaxMn7O12 quadruple perovskite phase diagram, which is the incommensurate analogue of the well-known pseudo-CE phase of the simple perovskite manganites. We demonstrate that incommensurate magnetic order arises in quadruple perovskites due to the exchange interactions between A and B sites. Furthermore, by constructing a simple mean field Heisenberg exchange model that generically describes both simple and quadruple perovskite systems, we show that this new magnetic phase unifies a picture…
A spin-tunnel-junction based on manganites, with La$_{1-x}$Sr$_x$MnO$_3$ (LSMO) as ferromagnetic metallic electrodes and the undoped parent compound LaMnO$_3$ (LMO) as insulating barrier, is here theoretically discussed using double exchange model Hamiltonians and numerical techniques. For an even number of LMO layers, the ground state is shown to have anti-parallel LSMO magnetic moments. This highly resistive, but fragile, state is easily destabilized by small magnetic fields, which orient the LSMO moments in the direction of the field. The magnetoresistance associated with this transition is…
In this work, we report an atomic scale study on the ferromagnetic insulator manganite LaMnO$_{3.12}$ using $γ-γ$ PAC spectroscopy. Data analysis reveals a nanoscopic transition from an undistorted to a Jahn-Teller-distorted local environment upon cooling. The percolation thresholds of the two local environments enclose a macroscopic structural transition (Rhombohedric-Orthorhombic). Two distinct regimes of JT-distortions were found: a high temperature regime where uncorrelated polaron clusters with severe distortions of the Mn$^{3+}$O$_{6}$ octahedra survive up to $T \approx 800 K$ and a low …
We present a study of the magnetocaloric effect in La5/8-yPryCa3/8MnO3 (y=0.3) and Pr0.5Ca0.09Sr0.41MnO3 manganites. The low temperature state of both ystems is the result of a competition between the antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic phases. The samples display magnetocaloric effect evidenced in an adiabatic temperature change during a metamagnetic transition from an antiferromagnetic to a ferromagnetic phase . As additional features, La5/8-yPryCa3/8MnO3 exhibits phase separation characterized by the coexistence of antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic phases and Pr0.5Ca0.09Sr0.41MnO3 display…
We show that the transition in AMnO3 from the orthorhombic perovskite phase to the hexagonal phase is promoted by inducing disorder on the A-site. The gap between the orthorhombic and the hexagonal phase is widened for disordered, mixed yttrium-gadolinium manganite samples. At the cost of the orthorhombic phase a two phase region emerges. The phase separation exhibits very unusual thermodynamical behaviour. We also show that high pressure synthesis favours the orthorhombic phase. YMnO3 is formed in the orthorhombic phase at 15 kbar.
We show that the Anomalous Hall Effect (AHE) observed in Colossal Magnetoresistance Manganites is a manifestation of Berry phase effects caused by carrier hopping in a non-trivial spin background. We determine the magnitude and temperature dependence of the Berry phase contribution to the AHE, finding that it increases rapidly in magnitude as the temperature is raised from zero through the magnetic transition temperature T_c, peaks at a temperature $T_{max} > T_c$ and decays as a power of T, in agreement with experimental data. We suggest that our theory may be relevant to the anomalous hall e…
The temperature dependence of the electronic and atomic structure of the colossal magnetoresistive oxides $La_{1-x}Sr_{x}MnO_{3}$ (x = 0.3, 0.4) has been studied using core and valence level photoemission, x-ray absorption and emission, and extended x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy. A dramatic and reversible change of the electronic structure is observed on crossing the Curie temperature, including charge localization and spin moment increase of Mn, together with Jahn-Teller distortions, both signatures of polaron formation. Our data are also consistent with a phase-separation scen…
Obtaining strong magnetoelectric couplings in bulk materials and heterostructures is an ongoing challenge. We demonstrate that manganite heterostructures of the form ${\rm (Insulator)/(LaMnO_3)_n/(CaMnO_3)_n/(Insulator)}$ show strong multiferroicity in magnetic manganites where ferroelectric polarization is realized by charges leaking from ${\rm LaMnO_3}$ to ${\rm CaMnO_3}$ due to repulsion. Here, an effective nearest-neighbor electron-electron (electron-hole) repulsion (attraction) is generated by cooperative electron-phonon interaction. Double exchange, when a particle virtually hops to its …
We have studied the bandwidth-temperature-magnetic field phase diagram of RE(0.55)Sr(0.45)MnO(3) colossal magnetoresistance manganites with ferromagnetic metallic (FM) ground state. The bandwidth (or equivalently the double exchange interaction) was controlled both via chemical substitution and hydrostatic pressure with a focus on the vicinity of the critical pressure p* where the character of the zero-field FM transition changes from first to second order. Below p* the first-order FM transition extends up to a critical magnetic field, H_cr. It is suppressed by pressure and approaches zero on …
Using a two-band double-exchange model with Jahn-Teller lattice distortions and super-exchange interactions, supplemented by quenched disorder, at electron density $n=0.65$, we explicitly demonstrate the coexistence of the $n$ = 1/2-type ($π, π$) charge-ordered and the ferromagnetic nanoclusters above the ferromagnetic transition temperature $T_{\rm c}$ in colossal magnetoresistive (CMR) manganites. The resistivity increases due to the enhancement of the volume fraction of the charge-ordered and the ferromagnetic nanoclusters with decreasing the temperature down to $T_{\rm c}$. The ferromagnet…
High resolution topographic images obtained by scanning tunneling microscope in the insulating state of Pr0.68Pb0.32MnO3 single crystals showed regular stripe-like or zigzag patterns on a width scale of 0.4 - 0.5 nm confirming a high temperature polaronic state. Spectroscopic studies revealed inhomogeneous maps of zero-bias conductance with small patches of metallic clusters on length scale of 2 - 3 nm only within a narrow temperature range close to the metal-insulator transition. The results give a direct observation of polarons in the insulating state, phase separation of nanometer-scale met…
The influence of the A-site ionic radii (<rA>) on the magnetic structure has been investigated in La0.5Ca0.5-xSrxMnO3 compounds (0 .GE. x .LE. 0.5) using neutron diffraction, magnetization, and resistivity techniques. All compounds in the composition range x .LE. 0.3 crystallize in the orthorhombic structure (Space Group Pnma). No further structural transition is observed as temperature is lowered below 300K. The compound x = 0.4, is a mixture of two orthorhombic phases crystallizing in Pnma and Fmmm space group. The x = 0.5 compound has a tetragonal structure in the space group, I4/mcm. The c…
We observe the interesting magnetization and resistivity results in the orthorhombically distorted self doped manganite, La_{0.87}MnO_x. A significant irreversibility between zero-field-cooled and field-cooled resistivities as well as magnetization data is clearly observed up to a temperature which is well above the both paramagnetic to ferromagnetic (T_c) and metal to insulator transition (T_{MI}) temperatures. In the ferromagnetically ordered and metallic states the magnetotransport results suggest the influence of domain wall dynamics. Interesting scenario of memory effects through the doma…
The large, so-called colossal, magnetoresistivity of doped manganese oxides based on LaMnO3 has attracted considerable attention, but only one unusual feature of the ferromagnetic transition in these compounds. We examine in this paper the progression of magnetic and thermodynamic behavior as the transition temperature is made to vary from 360 K to 218 K by changing the divalent dopant. Single crystals of La_{0.7}Sr_{0.3}MnO3, as is well known, show modest magnetoresistivity and conventional critical behavior. La$_{0.7}$Pb$_{0.3}$ Mn$O_3$, and to an even greater extent, La$_{0.7}$Ca$_{0.3}$MnO…
In order to study the magnetic excitation behaviors in colossal magnetoresistance manganites, a magnon-phonon interacting system is investigated. Sudden broadening of magnon linewidth is obtained when a magnon branch crosses over an optical phonon branch. Onset of the broadening is approximately determined by the magnon density of states. Anomalous magnon damping at the brillouine zone boundary observed in low Curie temperature manganites is explained.
Through analysis of variable temperature neutron powder diffraction data, we present solutions for the magnetic structures of SrMn$_7$O$_{12}$, CdMn$_7$O$_{12}$, and PbMn$_7$O$_{12}$ in all long-range ordered phases. The three compounds were found to have magnetic structures analogous to that reported for CaMn$_7$O$_{12}$. They all feature a higher temperature lock-in phase with \emph{commensurate} magneto-orbital coupling, and a delocked, multi-\textbf{k} magnetic ground state where \emph{incommensurate} magneto-orbital coupling gives rise to a constant-moment magnetic helix with modulated sp…
In the orthorhombic manganites o-RMnO3, where R is a heavy rare earth (R = Gd-Yb), the Mn3+ sublattice is known to undergo two magnetic transitions. The low temperature phase has an antiferromagnetic structure (collinear or elliptical), which has been well characterized by neutron diffraction in most of these compounds. The intermediate phase, occurring in a narrow temperature range (a few K), is documented for R = Gd-Ho as a collinear modulated structure, incommensurate with the lattice spacings. We report here on a 57Fe Mössbauer study of 2% 57Fe doped o-YbMnO3, where the spin only Fe3+ ion …
We show that the symmetry of the spin zigzag chain E phase of the orthorhombic perovskite manganites and nickelates allows for the existence of a finite ferroelectric polarization. The proposed microscopic mechanism is independent of spin-orbit coupling. We predict that the polarization induced by the E-type magnetic order can potentially be enhanced by up to two orders of magnitude with respect to that in the spiral magnetic phases of TbMnO3 and similar multiferroic compounds.
The magnetocaloric effect in alternating magnetic fields has been investigated in Pr1-xAgxMnO3 manganites with x=0.05-0.25. The stepwise reversal of the sign of the magnetocaloric effect has been revealed in a weakly doped sample (x=0.05) at low temperatures (~80 K). This reversal is attributed to the coexistence of the ferromagnetic and canted antiferromagnetic phases with different critical temperatures.
We study the magnetic and transport properties of all-manganite heterostructures consisting of ferromagnetic metallic electrodes separated by an antiferromagnetic barrier. We find that the magnetic ordering in the barrier is influenced by the relative orientation of the electrodes magnetization producing a large difference in resistance between the parallel and antiparallel orientations of the ferromagnetic layers. The external application of a magnetic field in a parallel configuration also leads to large magnetoresistance.
We address the issue of massive phase separation (PS) in manganite family of doped Mott insulators through ac conductivity measurements on La$_{0.625-y}$Pr$_{y}$Ca$_{0.375}$MnO$_{3}$ (0.375 $\leq$ y $\leq$ 0.275), and establish applicability of the scaling theory of percolation in the critical regime of the PS. Measurements of dc resistivity, magnetization (M(T)) and electron diffraction show incomplete growth of a ferromagnetic (FM) metallic component on cooling the high temperature charge ordered (CO) phase well below Curie temperature. The impedance $\mid$Z(T,f)$\mid$ measured over a freque…
We show that applying strain on half-doped manganites makes it possible to tune the system to the proximity of a metal-insulator transition and thereby generate a colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) response. This phase competition not only allows control of CMR in ferromagnetic metallic manganites but can be used to generate CMR response in otherwise robust insulators at half-doping. Further, from our realistic microscopic model of strain and magnetotransport calculations within the Kubo formalism, we demonstrate a striking result of strain engineering that, under tensile strain, a ferromagnetic…
We have found that the current- voltage characteristics of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3(-delta)/Nb:SrTiO3 rectifying junctions are quantitatively well-described by (thermally-assisted) tunneling with an effectively temperature-independent Schottky barrier under no magnetic field, while those of the oxygen deficient junction remarkably deviate from such a simple behavior as magnetic field is applied. These results indicate a new form of magnetoresistance arising from magnetic field changes of the interface band diagram via the strong electron-spin coupling in manganites.
We report detailed thermal expansion and magnetostriction experiments on GdCoIn$_5$ and GdRhIn$_5$ single crystal samples that show a sudden change in the dilation at a field B$^\ast$ for temperatures below the Néel transition temperature TN. We present a first-principles model including crystal-field effects, dipolar and exchange interactions, and the dependence of the exchange couplings with lattice distortions in order to fully account for the magnetostriction and magnetic susceptibility data. The mean-field solution of the model shows that a transition between metastable states occurs at t…
We have studied the crystal and magnetic structures of Fe-doped hexagonal manganites LuMn1-xFexO3 (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3) by using bulk magnetization and neutron powder diffraction methods. The samples crystalize consistently in a hexagonal structure and maintain the space group P63cm from 2 to 300 K. The Néel temperature TN increases continuously with increasing Fe-doping. In contrast to a single Γ4 representation in LuMnO3, the magnetic ground state of the Fe-doped samples can only be described with a spin configuration described by a mixture of Γ3 (P63'cm') and Γ4 (P63'c'm) representatio…
A microscopic picture of charge transport in manganites is developed, with particular attention being paid to the neighborhood of the ferromagnet-to- paramagnet phase transition. The basic transport mechanism invoked is inelastically-assisted carrier hopping between states localized by magnetic disorder. In the context of the anomalous Hall effect, central roles are played by the Pancharatnam and spin-orbit quantal phases.
The electronic properties of many transition metal oxide systems require new ideas concerning the behaviour of electrons in solids for their explanation. A recent example, subsequent to that of cuprate superconductors, is of rare earth manganites doped with alkaline earths, namely $Re_{1-x}A_x MnO_3$, which exhibit colossal magnetoresistance, metal insulator transition and many other poorly understood phenomena. Here we show that the strong Jahn Teller coupling between the twofold degenerate ($d_{x^2 -y^2}$ and $d_{3z^2 -r^2}$) $e_g$ orbitals of $Mn$ and lattice modes of vibration (of the oxyg…
Orthorhombically distorted perovskite manganites, RMnO3 with R being a trivalent rare-earth ion, exhibit a variety of magnetic and electric phases including multiferroic (i.e. concurrently magnetic and ferroelectric) phases and fascinating magnetoelectric phenomena. We theoretically study the phase diagram of RMnO3 by constructing a microscopic spin model, which includes not only the superexchange interaction but also the single-ion anisotropy (SIA) and the Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction (DMI). Analysis of this model using the Monte-Carlo method reproduces the experimental phase diagrams as …
