Dr Dharmalingam Prabhakaran

Abstract:

An impurity-driven magnetic phase transition has been investigated in LaCoO3 at temperatures below that of the thermally induced spin state transition of the Co3+ ion. We have discovered a saturating component of the magnetisation, which we attribute to previously unobserved interactions between magnetic excitons. These conclusions are confirmed by muon spin spectroscopy which indicates an ordering temperature of 50 K in both the transverse and zero-field configurations. Low-energy muon measurements demonstrate that the magnetic behaviour is independent of implantation energy and hence a property of the bulk of the material. The magnetic exciton formation is attributed to the interaction between electrons bound at oxygen vacancies and neighbouring cobalt ions, and is proposed as the precursor to the magneto-electronic phase separation recently observed in doped lanthanum cobaltite. © EDP Sciences.

Abstract:

Soft X-ray resonant diffraction is a new technique pioneered by our group. We have published examples of the huge resonant enhancements of charge and magnetic scattering that can be obtained at the L-edges of 3d transition metal oxides. In this paper we will also show how resonant soft X-ray scattering enables direct observation of orbital ordering. We have studied the low temperature phase of La0.5Sr1.5MnO4 that displays charge, spin and orbital ordering. We have employed resonant soft X-ray scattering at the manganese L edges which provide a direct measurement of the orbital ordering. Energy scans at constant wavevector have been compared to theoretical predictions and show that at all temperatures there are two separate contributions to the observed scattering, direct Goodenough orbital ordering and strong cooperative Jahn-Teller distortions of the Mn3+ ions. Finally, we will show how that the spin and orbital degrees of freedom are strongly correlated in these materials. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract:

We have investigated the orbital and magnetic correlations of the manganese sub-lattice in the archetypical half-doped manganite La 0.5Sr 1.5MnO 4 using the enhanced sensitivity of resonant soft x-ray diffraction at the Mn L edges. We have separately measured the energy dependence of the scattered intensity from both the (1/4, 1/4, 0) and (1/4,1/4,1/2) reflections indicative of the long-range correlations of orbital and magnetic order respectively. Measurements of the integrated intensity of the different features in the resonant energy spectrum show the different origins of the orbital correlations and their variation with temperature. The results also give evidence for a strong coupling between the orbital and spin degrees of freedom. © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.

Abstract:

We report the growth of single crystals of La1-xSrxCoO3+δ (x=0.0 and 0.33) by the floating-zone technique in an image furnace under high pressure (7-9 atm). Single crystals of diameter 10 mm and length 100 mm have been obtained. The phase purity, composition, oxygen stochiometry and quality of the crystals were analysed. We discuss the effect on the crystal growth of the growth atmosphere. We also present some of the magnetization data for the grown crystals. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.