In strongly correlated electronic systems, such as manganites, the global transport behavior depends sensitively on the spin ordering, whose alteration often requires a large external magnetic field. Here we show that the spin ordering in manganites can be easily controlled by exchange field across the interface between a ferromagnet and a manganite. By depositing isolated ferromagnetic nanodots on a manganite thin film, we find that it is possible to overcome dimensionality and strain effects to raise the metal-insulator transition (MIT) temperature by over 200 K and increase the magnetoresistance by 5000%. The MIT temperature can also be tuned by controlling the density of the magnetic nanodots which indicates that the formation process of electronic phase separation can be controlled by the presence of magnetic nanodots.
We present a detailed study of a model for strain-induced metal-insulator phase coexistence in perovskite manganites. Both nanoscale and mesoscale inhomogeneities are self-consistently described using atomic scale modes and their associated constraint equations. We also examine the stability of domain configurations against uniform and nonuniform modifications of domain walls. Our results show that the long range interactions between strain fields and the complex energy landscape with multiple metastable states play essential roles in stabilizing metal-insulator phase coexistence, as observed …
By using a realist microscopic model, we study the electric and magnetic properties of the interface between a half metallic manganite and an insulator. We find that the lack of carriers at the interface debilitates the double exchange mechanism, weakening the ferromagnetic coupling between the Mn ions. In this situation the ferromagnetic order of the Mn spins near the interface is unstable against antiferromagnetic CE correlations, and a separation between ferromagnetic/metallic and antiferromagnetic/insulator phases at the interfaces can occur. We obtain that the insertion of extra layers of…
We propose that a specific spatial configuration of lattice sites that energetically favor {\it 3+} or {\it 4+} Mn ions in moderately doped manganites constitutes approximately a spatially random two-energy-level system. Such an effect results in a mechanism of metal-insulator transitions that appears to be different from both the Anderson transition and the Mott-Hubbard transition. Correspondingly, a disordered Kondo lattice model is put forward, whose dynamical mean-field solution agrees reasonably with experiments.
The gigantic reduction of the electric resistivity under the applied magnetic field, CMR effect, is now widely accepted to appear in the vicinity of the insulator to metal transition of the perovskite manganites. Recently, we have discovered the first order transition from ferromagnetic metal to insulator in $\rm La_{0.88}Sr_{0.12}MnO_3$ of the CMR manganite. This phase transition induces the tremendous increase of the resistivity under the external magnetic field just near above the phase transition temperature. We report here fairly detailed results from the systematic experiments including …
Magnetic field and temperature dependence of the Terahertz conductivity and permittivity of the colossal magnetoresistance manganite Pr_{0.65}Ca_{0.28}Sr_{0.07}MnO_3 (PCSMO) is investigated approaching the metal-to-insulator transition (MIT) from the insulating side. In the charge-ordered state of PCSMO both conductivity and dielectric permittivity increase as function of magnetic field and temperature. Universal scaling relationships between the changes in permittivity and conductivity are observed in a broad range of temperatures and magnetic fields. Similar scaling is also seen in La_{1-x}S…
We report an experimental study of the time dependence of resistivity of a La$_{0.9}$Sr$_{0.1}$MnO$_{3}$ ultrathin film in order to elucidate the underlying mechanism for metal-insulator transition and colossal magnetoresistance CMR effect. There is a clear change of sign in the resistive relaxation rate across the metal-insulator transition driven by temperature or magnetic field. When measuring in increasing temperature or decreasing magnetic field, the resistivity increases with time in the metallic state but decreases with time in the insulating state. These relaxation processes indicate t…
We show that metal-insulator transition in Pr0.5Ca0.5Mn1-xCrxO3 (x = 0.015-0.025) is unstable against thermal cycling. Insulator-metal transition shifts down and low temperature resistivity increases each time when the sample is cycled between a starting temperature TS and a final temperature TF. The effect is dramatic lower is x. Insulator-metal transition in x = 0.015 can be completely destroyed by thermal cycling in absence of magnetic field as well as under H = 2 T. Magnetic measurements suggest that ferromagnetic phase fraction decreases with thermal cycling. We suggest that increase in s…
We report the suppression of the magnetic phase transition in La1-xCaxMnO3 close to the localized-to-itinerant electronic transition, i.e. at x = 0.2 and x = 0.5. A new crossover temperature Tf can be defined for these compositions instead of TC. Unlike in common continuous magnetic phase transition the susceptibility does not diverge at Tf and a spontaneous magnetization cannot be defined below it. We propose that the proximity to the doping-induced metal-insulator transition introduces a random field which breaks up the electronic/magnetic homogeneity of the system and explains these effects…
We have investigated the resistive relaxation of a (La$_{0.4}$Pr$_{0.6}$)$_{1.2}$Sr$_{1.8}$Mn$_{2}$O$_{7}$ single crystal, in order to examine the slow dynamics of the field-induced insulator to metal transition of bilayered manganites. The temporal profiles observed in remanent resistance follow a stretched exponential function accompanied by a slow relaxation similar to that obtained in magnetization and magnetostriction data. We demonstrate that the remanent relaxation in magnetotransport has a close relationship with magnetic relaxation that can be understood in the framework of an effecti…
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…
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 …
Bulk samples of La2.3-xYxCa0.7Mn2O7, x=0,0.3,0.5, with layered perovskite structure have been synthesized and investigated with respect to their electrical, electronic and magnetic properties. It is found that La1.8Y0.5Ca0.7Mn2O7 has tetragonal structure and is a metallic ferromagnet with a magnetic transition temperature of 170 K. The compound shows metallic behavior below 140 K and has a large magnetoresistance (MR) Delta-rho/rho(0)~94% at 100 K at 34 kOe. For x=0 and 0.3 the structure is monoclinic with a suppression of metallicity. For x=0 the material is an ferromagnetic insulator. We obs…
We argue that in lightly hole doped perovskite-type Mn oxides the holes (Mn$^{4+}$ sites) are surrounded by nearest neighbor Mn$^{3+}$ sites in which the occupied $3d$ orbitals have their lobes directed towards the central hole (Mn$^{4+}$) site and with spins coupled ferromagnetically to the central spin. This composite object, which can be viewed as a combined orbital-spin-lattice polaron, is accompanied by the breathing type (Mn$^{4+}$) and Jahn-Teller type (Mn$^{3+}$) local lattice distortions. We present calculations which indicate that for certain doping levels these orbital polarons may …
Modulation of charge carrier dynamics and hence electrical conductivity of solids by photoexcitation has been a rich field of research with numerous applications. Similarly, electric and magnetic field assisted enhancement of conductivity are of fundamental importance and technological use. Hole doped manganites of the type (A$_{1-x}$B$_{x})$MnO$_{3}$, where A and B are rare and alkaline earth metals respectively have the distinction of showing all three effects. Here we establish the complementarity of the electric, magnetic and photon fields in driving an insulator-metal transition in epitax…
The physics of manganites appears to be dominated by phase competition among ferromagnetic metallic and charge-ordered antiferromagnetic insulating states. Previous investigations (Burgy {\it et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 87}, 277202 (2001)) have shown that quenched disorder is important to smear the first-order transition between those competing states, and induce nanoscale inhomogeneities that produce the colossal magnetoresistance effect. Recent studies (Motome {\it et al.} Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 91}, 167204 (2003)) have provided further evidence that disorder is important in the manganite …
We study theoretically the magnetic and electric properties of the interface between two antiferromagnetic and insulating manganites: La0.5Ca0.5MnO3, a strong correlated insulator, and CaMnO3, a band-insulator. We find that a ferromagnetic and metallic electron gas is formed at the interface between the two layers. We confirm the metallic character of the interface by calculating the in-plane conductance. The possibility of increasing the electron gas density by selective doping is also discussed.
Understanding the coexistence of ferromagnetism and insulating behavior in manganites is an unsolved problem. We propose a localized-band model involving effective intermediate-range electron-electron (electron-hole) repulsion (attraction) generated by cooperative electron-phonon interaction. Double exchange mechanism, involving holes virtually hopping to nearest neighbors and back, produces magnetic polarons in an antiferromagnetic environment; when these magnetic polarons coalesce and percolate the system, we get a ferromagnetic insulator. Ferromagnetism gets more pronounced when the holes (…
Kondo-like effect, namely the upturn of resistivity at low temperatures, has been observed in perovskite manganite when nonmagnetic insulators were doped as the secondary phase. In this paper, the low-temperature resistivity upturn effect was argued to be originated from the interfacial magnetic phase reconstruction. Heisenberg spin lattices have been simulated using Monte Carlo method to reveal the phase competition around the secondary phase boundary, namely the manganite-insulator boundary behaves a weak antiferromagnetic tendency. And the resistor-network model based on the double-exchange…
The hole-doped manganite La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 and the electron-doped manganite La0.7Ce0.3MnO3 undergo an insulator to metal transition at around 250 K, above which both behave as a polaronic semiconductor. We have successfully fabricated an epitaxial trilayer (La0.7Ca0.3MnO3/SrTiO3/La0.7Ce0.3MnO3), where SrTiO3 is an insulator. At room temperature, i.e. in the semiconducting regime, it exhibits asymmetric current-voltage (I-V) characteristics akin to a p-n diode. The observed asymmetry in the I-V characteristics disappears at low temperatures where both the manganite layers are metallic. To the best…
The metal-insulator transition in manganites is strongly influenced by the concentration of holes present in the system. Based upon an orbitally degenerate Mott-Hubbard model we analyze two possible localization scenarios to account for this doping dependence: First, we rule out that the transition is initiated by a disorder-order crossover in the orbital sector, showing that its effect on charge mobility is only small. Second, we introduce the idea of orbital polarons originating from a strong polarization of orbitals in the vicinity of holes. Considering this direct coupling between charge a…
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 …
The metal-insulator transition in manganites is strongly influenced by the concentration of holes present in the system. Based upon an orbitally degenerate Mott-Hubbard model we analyze two possible localization scenarios to account for this doping dependence: First, we rule out that the transition is initiated by a disorder-order crossover in the orbital sector, showing that its effect on charge itineracy is only small. Second, we introduce the idea of orbital polarons originating from a strong polarization of orbitals in the vicinity of holes. Considering this direct coupling between charge …
We observed a dramatic peak in the 1/f noise at the metal-insulator transition (MIT) in low-Tc manganites. This many-orders-of-magnitude noise enhancement is observed for both polycrystalline and single-crystal samples of La{5/8-y}Pr{y}Ca{3/8}MnO{3} (y=0.35-0.4) in zero magnetic field and Pr{1-x}Ca{x}MnO{3} (x=0.35-0.5) in magnetic field. This observation strongly suggests that the microscopic phase separation in the low-Tc manganites causes formation of a percolation network, and that the observed MIT is a percolation threshold.
We study the effect of uniform uniaxial strain on the ground state electronic configuration of a thin film manganite. Our model Hamiltonian includes the double-exchange, the Jahn-Teller electron-lattice coupling, and the antiferromagnetic superexchange. The strain arises due to the lattice mismatch between an insulating substrate and a manganite which produces a tetragonal distortion. This is included in the model via a modification of the hopping amplitude and the introduction of an energy splitting between the Mn e_g levels. We analyze the bulk properties of half-doped manganites and the ele…
The colossal electroresistance in manganites is a concomitant of the electric field induced insulator-to-metal phase transition. A phenomenological phase transition model is proposed to study this electric field induced collapse of charge-ordered phase. The hysteresis of the phase transition is well explained using the effective medium approximation. The volume fraction of metallic region at the metal-to-insulator transition point is estimated as 30%. In addition, it is found that the critical electric field to melt the charge-ordered phase will decrease with the applied magnetic field.
The effect of 16O-18O isotope exchange on the electric resistivity was studied for (La(1-y)Pr(y))0.7Ca0.3MnO3 ceramic samples. Depending on y, this mixed perovskite exhibited different types of low-temperature behavior ranging from ferromagnetic metal (FM) to charge ordered (CO) antiferromagnetic insulator. It was found that at y=0.75, the substitution of 16O by 18O results in the reversible transition from a FM to a CO insulator at zero magnetic field. The applied magnetic field (H >= 2 T) transformed the sample with 18O again to the metallic state and caused the increase in the FM transition…
We study the transition at T=0 from a ferromagnetic insulating to a ferromagnetic metallic phase in manganites as a function of hole doping using an effective low-energy model Hamiltonian proposed by us recently. The model incorporates the quantum nature of the dynamic Jahn-Teller(JT) phonons strongly coupled to orbitally degenerate electrons as well as strong Coulomb correlation effects and leads naturally to the coexistence of localized (JT polaronic) and band-like electronic states. We study the insulator-metal transition as a function of doping as well as of the correlation strength U and …
Effects of disorder on the two competing phases, i.e., the ferromagnetic metal and the commensurate charge/lattice ordered insulator, are studied by Monte Carlo simulation. The disorder suppresses the charge/lattice ordering more strongly than the ferromagnetic order, driving the commensurate insulator to the ferromagnetic metal near the phase boundary in the pure case. Above the ferromagnetic transition temperature, on the contrary, the disorder makes the system more insulating, which might cause an enhanced colossal magnetoresistance as observed in the half-doped or Cr-substituted manganites…
An unusual temperature and concentration behavior of resistivity in $La_{0.7}Ca_{0.3}Mn_{1-x}Cu_xO_3$ has been observed at slight $Cu$ doping ($0\leq x \leq 0.05$). Namely, introduction of copper results in a splitting of the resistivity maximum around a metal-insulator transition temperature $T_0(x)$ into two differently evolving peaks. Unlike the original $Cu$-free maximum which steadily increases with doping, the second (satellite) peak remains virtually unchanged for $x<x_c$, increases for $x\ge x_c$ and finally disappears at $x_m\simeq 2x_c$ with $x_c\simeq 0.03$. The observed phenomenon …
We report the frequency-dependent conductivity of the manganite system La1-xSrxMnO3 (x <= 0.2) when approaching the metal-insulator transition from the insulating side. Results from low-frequency dielectric measurements are combined with spectra in the infrared region. For low doping levels the behavior is dominated by hopping transport of localized charge carriers at low frequencies and by phononic and electronic excitations in the infrared region. For the higher Sr contents the approach of the metallic state is accompanied by the successive suppression of the hopping contribution at low freq…
We have investigated the effect of oxygen isotope substitution on the metal-insulator transition temperature and the resistivity of the narrow band manganite (La0.25Pr0.75)0.7Ca0.3MnO3 in a constant magnetic field. A set of 16 samples having different mixtures of 16O, 17O and 18O isotopes with average mass varying from 16.0 to 17.8 a.m.u. was studied. We have found that the magnetoresistance and the isotope effect can be linked together with a single parameter - effective magnetic field, which decreases linearly with an increase of average oxygen mass with a slope of -2 T/a.m.u. The applicabil…
We measured the temperature dependence of the saturation magnetization (Ms) of a (La1-xPrx)1-yCayMnO3 (x ~ 0.60, y ~ 0.33) film as a function of applied bending stress. Stress producing a compressive strain of -0.01% along the magnetic easy axis increased the Curie temperature by ~6 K and the metal-insulator-transition by ~4 K. Regardless of whether or not stress is applied to the film, magnetic ordering occurs at temperatures significantly higher than the metal-insulator-transition temperature. The magnetization of the sample at the temperature of the metal-insulator-transition is approximate…
Neutron powder diffraction experiments on La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 over a broad temperature range above and below the metal-insulator transition have been analyzed beyond the Rietveld average approach by use of Reverse Monte Carlo modelling. This approach allows the calculation of atomic pair distribution functions and spin correlation functions constrained to describe the observed Bragg and diffuse nuclear and magnetic scattering. The results evidence phase separation within a paramagnetic matrix into ferro and antiferromagnetic domains correlated to anistropic lattice distortions in the vicinity of th…
We study the Holstein-Double Exchange model in three dimensions in the presence of substitutional disorder. Using a new Monte Carlo technique we establish the phase diagram of the clean model and then focus on the effect of varying electron-phonon coupling and disorder at fixed electron density. We demonstrate how extrinsic disorder controls the interplay of lattice polaron effects and spin fluctuations and leads to widely varying regimes in transport. Our results on the disorder dependence of the ferromagnetic T_c and metal-insulator transitions bear direct comparison to data on the `optimall…
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 …
Electronically phase separated manganite wires are found to exhibit controllable metal-insulator transitions under local electric fields. The switching characteristics are shown to be fully reversible, polarity independent, and highly resistant to thermal breakdown caused by repeated cycling. It is further demonstrated that multiple discrete resistive states can be accessed in a single wire. The results conform to a phenomenological model in which the inherent nanoscale insulating and metallic domains are rearranged through electrophoretic-like processes to open and close percolation channels.
Manganites are famous mostly for the colossal magnetoresistive effect, which involves the phase separation between ferromagnetic phase and charge-ordered CE-type antiferromagnetic phases. Furthermore, manganites contain some typical magnetic ferroelectrics, e.g. E-type antiferromagnetic $o$-HoMnO$_3$. Here we re-examined these zigzag-winding antiferromagnetic phases (CE-type and E-type antiferromagnets) from the topological perspective. Our theoretical analysis proved that the E-type phase is a weak topological insulator belonging to the $\mathbb{Z}$ class. In momentum space, we classify the s…
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 propose a dielectrophoresis model for phase-separated manganites. Without increase of the fraction of metallic phase, an insulator-metal transition occurs when a uniform electric field applied across the system exceeds a threshold value. Driven by the dielectrophoretic force, the metallic clusters reconfigure themselves into stripes along the direction of electric field, leading to the filamentous percolation. This process, which is time-dependent, irreversible and anisotropic, is a probable origin of the colossal electroresistance in manganites.
The electronic response of doped manganites at the transition from the paramagnetic insulating to the ferromagnetic metallic state in $\rm La_{1-x}Ca_{x}MnO_3$ for $\rm (x=0.3,0.2)$ was investigated by dc conductivity, ellipsometry, and VUV reflectance for energies between 0 and 24 eV. A stablized Kramers-Kronig transformation yields the optical conductivity and reveals changes in the optical spectral weight up to 24 eV at the metal to insulator transition. In the observed energy range, the spectral weight is conserved within $\rm 0.3 %$. The redistribution of spectral weight between low and h…
In this paper, we report polarized optical microscopy and electrical transport studies of manganese oxides that reveal that the charge ordering transition in these compounds exhibits typical signatures of a martensitic transformation. We demonstrate that specific electronic properties of charge-ordered manganites stem from a combination of martensitic accommodation strain and effects of strong electron correlations. This intrinsic strain is strongly affected by the grain boundaries in ceramic samples. Consistently, our studies show a remarkable enhancement of low field magnetoresistance and th…
The effect of $^{16}$O $\to$ $^{18}$O isotope substitution on electrical resistivity and magnetic susceptibility of Sm$_{1-x}$Sr$_x$MnO$_3$ manganites is analyzed. It is shown that the oxygen isotope substitution drastically affects the phase diagram at the crossover region between the ferromagnetic metal state and that of antiferromagnetic insulator (0.4 $< x <$ 0.6), and induces the metal-insulator transition at for $x$ = 0.475 and 0.5. The nature of antiferromagnetic insulator phase is discussed.
Transmission of information using the spin of the electron as well as its charge requires a high degree of spin polarization at surfaces. At surfaces however this degree of polarization can be quenched by competing interactions. Using a combination of surface sensitive x-ray and tunneling probes, we show for the quasi-two-dimensional bilayer manganites that the outermost Mn-O bilayer, alone, is affected: it is a 1-nm thick insulator that exhibits no long-range ferromagnetic order while the next bilayer displays the full spin polarization of the bulk. Such an abrupt localization of the surface …
The possibility to induce ferromagnetism and insulator to metal transitions in small A site cation manganites Ln_{1-x}Ca_xMnO_3 by rhodium doping is shown for the first time. Colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) properties are evidenced for a large compositional range (0.35 \leq x < 0.60). The ability of rhodium to induce such properties is compared to the results obtained by chromium and ruthenium doping. Models are proposed to explain this behavior.
We theoretically explore the mechanism of the colossal magnetoresistance in manganese oxides by explicitly taking into account the phase competition between the double-exchange ferromagnetism and the charge-ordered insulator. We find that quenched disorder causes a drastic change of the multicritical phase diagram by destroying the charge-ordered state selectively. As a result, there appears a nontrivial phenomenon of the disorder-induced insulator-to-metal transition in the multicritical regime. On the contrary, the disorder induces a highly-insulating state above the transition temperature w…
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…
Using Monte Carlo simulations and the two eg-orbital model for manganites, the stability of the CE and A-type antiferromagnetic insulating states is analyzed when quenched disorder in the superexchange JAF between the t2g localized spins and in the on-site energies is introduced. At vanishing or small values of the electron-(Jahn-Teller)phonon coupling, the previously hinted "fragility" of these insulating states is studied in detail, focusing on their charge transport properties. This fragility is here found to induce a rapid transition from the insulator to a (poor) metallic state upon the i…
Thin films of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 on MgO show a metal insulator transition and colossal magnetoresistance. The shape of this transition can be explained by intrinsic spatial inhomogeneities, which give rise to a domain structure of conducting and insulating domains at the submicrometer scale. These domains then undergo a percolation transition. The tunneling conductance and tunneling gap measured by scanning tunneling spectroscopy were used to distinguish and visualize these domains.
Understanding orbital ordered (OO) Mott insulating states lies at the heart of a consistent resolution of the colossal magneto-resistance (CMR) observed in manganites, where its melting induces a low-$T$ insulator-metal transition for $0.25 \le x\le 0.45$. Motivated thereby, we study the OO states in a planar model for bilayer manganites using DMFT and finite-size diagonalisation methods. We derive the correct OO ground states observed in manganites for $x=0,{1/2},{2/3},{3/4}$ in exact agreement with observations, including the charge-orbital-magnetic ordered stripe phases for $x>{1/2}$. These…
We employ time-resolved resonant x-ray diffraction to study the melting of charge order and the associated insulator-metal transition in the doped manganite Pr$_{0.5}$Ca$_{0.5}$MnO$_3$ after resonant excitation of a high-frequency infrared-active lattice mode. We find that the charge order reduces promptly and highly nonlinearly as function of excitation fluence. Density functional theory calculations suggest that direct anharmonic coupling between the excited lattice mode and the electronic structure drive these dynamics, highlighting a new avenue of nonlinear phonon control.
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 measurement of resistivity across a wide temperature range - from 15 to 1473 K - in rare-earth manganite series of compounds reveals a very interesting feature : normally observed insulating pattern beyond Tc (Curie Point) gives way to a reentrant metallic pattern around a characteristic temperature T*. The transport activation barrier Ea collapses to zero around T*. T* is found to be dependent on the carrier concentration or the concentration of the Jahn-Teller-active Mn(3+) ions as well as on the average A-site radius <rA> for a fixed carrier concentration. These factors govern the effec…
We measured the magneto-optical response of (La$_{0.4}$Pr$_{0.6}$)$_{1.2}$Sr$_{1.8}$Mn$_2$O$_7$ in order to investigate the microscopic aspects of the magnetic field driven spin-glass insulator to ferromagnetic metal transition. Application of a magnetic field recovers the ferromagnetic state with an overall redshift of the electronic structure, growth of the bound carrier localization associated with ferromagnetic domains, development of a pseudogap, and softening of the Mn-O stretching and bending modes that indicate a structural change. We discuss field- and temperature-induced trends withi…
The low temperature behavior of Pr$_{1-x}$Ca$_{x}$MnO$_{3}$ manganites are known to undergo a transition at $x\sim$0.3, from an insulating ferromagnetic state, at low Ca concentration, to an insulating antiferromagnetic state. Above the onset concentration for the charge-ordering effect ($x\sim 0.3$), a metal-insulator transition induced by an external magnetic field is also observed and related to the collapse of the charge-ordered state. In this paper we show that the ferro-antiferromagnetic transition takes place in an inhomogeneous way: around the critical concentration the sample is a mix…
The effect of strain on the resistivity and thermopower of ferromagnetic manganites has been examined based on the model that incorporates the electron-lattice interaction through the Jahn-Teller effect and an effective hopping determined by nearest neighbour spin-spin correlation of t2g electrons. The metal insulator transition temperature associated with resistivity decreases with increase in strain. In the presence of large strain the system remains in the semiconducting state. Thermopower (S) is positive and increasing function of strain and it exhibits a maximum with temperature. The temp…
The double exchange model describing the coupling between conduction electrons and localized magnetic moments is relevant for a large family of physical systems including manganites. Here we reveal that the one dimensional double exchange model with an incommensurate magnetic elliptical spiral is a topological insulator with a Chern number $2\mathbb{Z}$ in the two dimensional space with one physical dimension and one ancillary dimension spanned by the Goldstone mode of the spiral. Moreover, the electronic states can be localized for a strong local exchange coupling. The topological protected e…
We have performed both theoretical and experimental study of optical response of parent perovskite manganites RMnO_3 with a main goal to elucidate nature of clearly visible optical features. Starting with a simple cluster model approach we addressed the both one-center (p-d) and two-center (d-d) charge transfer (CT) transitions, their polarization properties, the role played by structural parameters, orbital mixing, and spin degree of freedom. Optical complex dielectric function of single crystalline samples of RMnO_3 (R=La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu) was measured by ellipsometric technique at room tempe…
We investigate the electronic reconstruction at the interface between ferromagnetic metallic (FM) and antiferromagnetic insulating (AFI) manganites in superlattices using a two-orbital double-exchange model including superexchange interactions, Jahn-Teller lattice distortions, and long range Coulomb interactions. The magnetic and the transport properties critically depend on the thickness of the AFI layers. We focus on superlattices where the constituent parent manganites have the same electron density n = 0.6. The induced ferromagnetic moment in the AFI layers decreases monotonically with inc…
A systematic study of the electronic structure in perovskite manganites is presented. The effective Hamiltonian is derived by taking into account the degeneracy of $e_g$ orbitals and strong electron correlation in Mn ions. The spin and orbital orderings are examined as functions of carrier concentration in the mean-field approximation applied to the effective Hamiltonian. We obtain the first order phase transition between ferromagnetic metallic and ferromagnetic insulating states in the lightly doped region. The transition is accompanied with the orbital order-disorder one which is directly ob…
A novel ferromagnetic transition, accompanied by carrier density collapse, is found in doped charge-transfer insulators with strong electron-phonon coupling. The transition is driven by an exchange interaction of polaronic carriers with localized spins; the strength of the interaction determines whether the transition is first or second order. A giant drop in the number of current carriers during the transition, which is a consequence of bound pairs formation in the paramagnetic phase close to the transition, is extremely sensitive to an external magnetic field. This carrier density collapse d…
