Andrew Boothroyd

Abstract:

Recent experiments indicate that static stripe-like charge order is generic to the hole-doped copper oxide superconductors and competes with superconductivity. Here we show that a similar type of charge order is present in La5/3Sr1/3CoO4, an insulating analogue of the copper oxide superconductors containing cobalt in place of copper. The stripe phase we have detected is accompanied by short-range, quasi-one-dimensional, antiferromagnetic order, and provides a natural explanation for the distinctive hourglass shape of the magnetic spectrum previously observed in neutron-scattering measurements of La2−xSrxCoO4 and many hole-doped copper oxide superconductors. The results establish a solid empirical basis for theories of the hourglass spectrum built on short-range, quasi-static, stripe correlations.

Abstract:

Perovskite materials provide a large variety of interesting physical properties and applications. Here, we report on unique properties of a fully ordered magnetodielectric double-perovskite, Sc2NiMnO6 (space group P21/n, a = 4.99860 Å, b = 5.35281 Å, c = 7.34496 Å, and β = 90.7915°), exhibiting sequential magnetic transitions at T1 = 35 K and T2 = 17 K. The transition at T1 corresponds to a single-k antiferromagnetic phase with propagation vector k1 = (1/2, 0, 1/2), while the second transition at T2 corresponds to a 2-k magnetic structure with propagation vectors k1 = (1/2, 0, 1/2) and k2 = (0, 1/2, 1/2). Symmetry analysis suggests that the two ordering wave vectors are independent, and calculations imply that k1 is associated with the Mn sublattice and k2 with the Ni sublattice, suggesting that Mn-Ni coupling is very small or absent. A magnetodielectric anomaly at T2 likely arises from an antiferroelectric ordering that results from the exchange-striction between the two magnetic sublattices belonging to k1 and k2. The behavior of Sc2NiMnO6 demonstrates 3d double-perovskites with small A-site cations as a promising avenue in which to search for magnetoelectric materials.