No Arabic abstract
We report measured dipolar asymmetry ratios at the LIII edges of the heavy rare earth metals. The results are compared with a first principles calculation and excellent agreement is found. A simple model of the scattering is developed, enabling us to re-interpret the resonant x-ray scattering in these materials and to identify the peaks in the asymmetry ratios with features in the spin and orbital moment densities.
We have used high-resolution resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) to study a thin film of NdNiO$_3$, a compound whose unusual spin- and bond-ordered electronic ground state has been of long-standing interest. Below the magnetic ordering temperature, we observe well-defined collective magnon excitations along different high-symmetry directions in momentum space. The magnetic spectra depend strongly on the incident photon energy, which we attribute to RIXS coupling to different local electronic configurations of the expanded and compressed NiO$_6$ octahedra in the bond-ordered state. Both the noncollinear magnetic ground state and the observed site-dependent magnon excitations are well described by a model that assumes strong competition between the antiferromagnetic superexchange and ferromagnetic double-exchange interactions. Our study provides direct insight into the magnetic dynamics and exchange interactions of the rare-earth nickelates, and demonstrates that RIXS can serve as a site-selective probe of magnetism in these and other materials.
Magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) in the x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) at the L2,3 edges for almost entire series of rare-earth (RE) elements in RE2Fe14B, is studied experimentally and theoretically. By a quantitative comparison of the complicated MCD spectral shapes, we find that (i) the 4f-5d intra-atomic exchange interaction not only induces the spin and orbital polarization of the 5d states, which is vital for the MCD spectra of the electric dipole transition from the 2p core states to the empty 5d conduction band, but also it accompanies a contraction of the radial part of the 5d wave function depending on its spin and orbital state, which results in the enhancement of the 2p-5d dipole matrix element, (ii) there are cases where the spin polarization of the 5d states due to the hybridization with the spin polarized 3d states of surrounding irons plays important roles, and (iii) the electric quadrupole transition from the 2p core states to the magnetic vale! nce 4f states is appreciable at the pre-edge region of the dipole spectrum. Especially, our results evidence that it is important to include the enhancement effect of the dipole matrix element in the correct interpretation of the MCD spectra at the RE L2,3 edges.
Recent experimental results have emphasized two aspects of Tb2Ti2O7 which have not been taken into account in previous attempts to construct theories of Tb2Ti2O7: the role of small levels of structural disorder, which appears to control the formation of a long-range ordered state of as yet unknown nature; and the importance of strong coupling between spin and lattice degrees of freedom, which results in the hybridization of crystal field excitons and transverse acoustic phonons. In this work we examine the juncture of these two phenomena and show that samples with strongly contrasting behavior vis-a-vis the structural disorder (i.e. with and without the transition to the ordered state), develop identical magnetoelastic coupling. We also show that the comparison between single crystal and powder samples is more complicated than previously thought - the correlation between lattice parameter (as a measure of superstoichiometric Tb$^{3+}$) and the existence of a specific heat peak, as observed in powder samples, does not hold for single crystals.
We present resonant x-ray emission spectroscopic (RXES) data from the uranium intermetallics UPd$_3$, USb, USn$_3$ and URu$_2$Si$_2$, at the U $M_{4,5}$ edges and compare the data to those from the well-localized $5f^2$ semiconductor UO$_2$. The technique is especially sensitive to any oxidation of the surface, and this was found on the USb sample, thus preventing a good comparison with a material known to be $5f^3$. We have found a small energy shift between UO$_2$ and UPd$_3$, both known to have localized $5f^2$ configurations, which we ascribe to the effect of conduction electrons in UPd$_3$. The spectra from UPd$_3$ and URu$_2$Si$_2$,are similar, strongly suggesting a predominant $5f^2$ configuration for URu$_2$Si$_2$. The valence-band resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) provides information on the U $P_3$ transitions (at about $18$~eV) between the U $5f$ and U $6p$ states, as well as transitions of between $3$ and $7$~eV from the valence band into the unoccupied $5f$ states. These transitions are primarily involving mixed ligand states (O $2p$ or Pd, Ru $4d$) and U $5f$ states. Calculations are able to reproduce both these low-energy transitions reasonably well.
The metal-insulator transition (MIT) remains among the most thoroughly studied phenomena in solid state physics, but the complexity of the phenomena, which usually involves cooperation of many degrees of freedom including orbitals, fluctuating local moments, magnetism, and the crystal structure, have resisted predictive ab-initio treatment. Here we develop ab-initio theoretical method for correlated electron materials, based on Dynamical Mean Field Theory, which can predict the change of the crystal structure across the MIT at finite temperature. This allows us to study the coupling between electronic, magnetic and orbital degrees of freedom with the crystal structure across the MIT in rare-earth nickelates. We predict the free energy profile of the competing states, and the theoretical magnetic ground state configuration, which is in agreement with neutron scattering data, but is different from the magnetic models proposed before. The resonant elastic X-ray response at the K-edge, which was argued to be a direct probe of the charge order, is theoretically modelled within the Dynamical Mean Field Theory, including the core-hole interaction. We show that the line-shape of the measured resonant elastic X-ray response can be explained with the site-selective Mott scenario without real charge order on Ni sites.