No Arabic abstract
The RNiO$_3$ perovskites are known to order antiferromagnetically below a material-dependent Neel temperature $T_text{N}$. We report experimental evidence indicating the existence of a second magnetically-ordered phase in TlNiO$_3$ above $T_text{N} = 104$ K, obtained using nuclear magnetic resonance and muon spin rotation spectroscopy. The new phase, which persists up to a temperature $T_text{N}^* = 202$ K, is suppressed by the application of an external magnetic field of approximately 1 T. It is not yet known if such a phase also exists in other perovskite nickelates.
We investigated the magnetic phase of the perovskite CaCrO$_3$ by using the muon spin relaxation technique accompanied by susceptibility measurements. A thermal hysteresis loop is identified with a width of about 1 K at the transition temperature. Within the time scale of the muon lifetime, a static antiferromagnetic order is revealed with distinct multiple internal fields which are experienced in the muon interstitial sites below the phase-transition temperature, $T_N=90 K$. Above $T_N$, lattice deformations are indicated by transverse-field muon-spin rotation and relaxation suggesting a magneto-elastic mechanism.
Magnetic ordering phenomena have a profound influence on the macroscopic properties of correlated-electron materials, but their realistic prediction remains a formidable challenge. An archetypical example is the ternary nickel oxide system RNiO3 (R = rare earth), where the period-four magnetic order with proposals of collinear and non-collinear structures and the amplitude of magnetic moments on different Ni sublattices have been subjects of debate for decades. Here we introduce an elementary model system - NdNiO3 slabs embedded in a non-magnetic NdGaO3 matrix - and use polarized resonant x-ray scattering (RXS) to show that both collinear and non-collinear magnetic structures can be realized, depending on the slab thickness. The crossover between both spin structures is correctly predicted by density functional theory and can be qualitatively understood in a low-energy spin model. We further demonstrate that the amplitude ratio of magnetic moments in neighboring NiO6 octahedra can be accurately determined by RXS in combination with a correlated double cluster model. Targeted synthesis of model systems with controlled thickness and synergistic application of polarized RXS and ab-initio theory thus provide new perspectives for research on complex magnetism, in analogy to two-dimensional materials created by exfoliation.
Selenium and tellurium are among the few elements that form $AB$O$_3$ perovskite structures with a four valent ion in the $A$ site. This leads to highly distorted structures and unusual magnetic behavior. Here we investigate the Co and Ni selenite and tellurite compounds, CoSeO$_3$, CoTeO$_3$, NiSeO$_3$ and NiTeO$_3$ using first principles calculations. We find an interplay of crystal field and Jahn-Teller distortions that underpin the electronic and magnetic properties. While all compounds are predicted to show an insulating G-type antiferromagnetic ground state, there is a considerable difference in the anisotropy of the exchange interactions between the Ni and Co compounds. This is related to the Jahn-Teller distortion. Finally, we observe that these four compounds show characteristics generally associated with Mott insulators, even when described at the level of standard density functional theory. These are then dense bulk band or Slater, Mott-type insulators.
CaCu$_3$Fe$_4$O$_{12}$ exhibits a temperature-induced transition from a ferrimagnetic-insulating phase, in which Fe appears charge disproportionated, as Fe$^{3+}$ and Fe$^{5+}$, to a paramagnetic-metallic phase at temperatures above 210 K, with Fe$^{4+}$ present. To describe it, we propose a microscopic effective model with two interpenetrating sublattices of Fe$^{(4-delta)+}$ and Fe$^{(4+delta)+}$, respectively, being $delta$ the Fe-charge disproportionation. We include all $3d$-Fe orbitals: $t_{2g}$ localized orbitals, with spin 3/2 and magnetically coupled, plus two degenerate itinerant $e_g$ orbitals with local and nearest-neighbor (NN) electron correlations, and hopping between NN $e_g$ orbitals of the same symmetry. Allub and Alascio previously proposed a model to describe the phase transition in LaCu$_3$Fe$_4$O$_{12}$ from a paramagnetic-metal to an antiferromagnetic-insulator, induced by temperature or pressure, involving charge transfer between Fe and Cu ions, in contrast to Fe-charge disproportionation. With the model proposed for CaCu$_3$Fe$_4$O$_{12}$, modified to account for this difference between the two compounds, the density of states of the itinerant Fe orbitals was obtained, using Greens functions methods. The phase diagram for CaCu$_3$Fe$_4$O$_{12}$ was calculated, including phases exhibiting Fe-charge disproportionation, where the two eg orbitals in each site are symmetrically occupied, as well as novel phases exhibiting local orbital selectivity/asymmetric occupation of $e_g$ orbitals. Both kinds of phases may exhibit paramagnetism and ferromagnetism. We determined the model parameters which best describe the phase transition observed in CaCu$_3$Fe$_4$O$_{12}$, and found other phases at different parameter ranges, which might be relevant for other compounds of the ACu$_3$Fe$_4$O$_{12}$ family, which present both types of transitions.
Recent theoretical studies [Chen et al., Phys. Rev. B 82, 174440 (2010), Ishizuka et al., Phys. Rev. B 90, 184422 (2014)] for the magnetic Mott insulator Ba2NaOsO6 have proposed a low-temperature order parameter that breaks lattice rotational symmetry without breaking time reversal symmetry leading to a nematic phase just above magnetic ordering temperature. We present high-resolution calorimetric and magnetization data of the same Ba2NaOsO6 single crystal and show evidence for a weakly field-dependent phase transition occurring at a temperature of Ts ~ 9.5K, above the magnetic ordering temperature of Tc ~ 7.5K. This transition appears as a broadened step in the low-field temperature dependence of the specific heat. The evolution of the phase boundary with applied magnetic field suggests that this phase coincides with the phase of broken local point symmetry seen in high field NMR experiments [Lu et al., Nat. Comm. 8 14407 (2017)]. Furthermore, the magnetic field dependence of the specific heat provides clear indications for magnetic correlations persisting at temperatures between Tc and Ts where long-range magnetic order is absent giving support for the existence of the proposed nematic phase.