We performed magnetic and ferroelectric measurements, associated with Landau theory and symmetry analysis, in order to clarify the situation of the YMnO3 system, a classical example of type I multiferroics. We found that the only magnetic group compa
tible with all experimental data (neutrons scattering, magnetization,polarization, dielectric constant, second harmonic generation) is the P63 group. In this group a small ferromagnetic component along c is induced by the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, and observed here in SQUID magnetization measurements. We found that the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic components can only be switched simultaneously, while the magnetic orders are functions of the polarization square and therefore insensitive to its sign.
The lattice dynamics of the $rm YMnO_3$ magneto-electric compound has been investigated using density functional calculations, both in the ferroelectric and the paraelectric phases. The coherence between the computed and experimental data is very goo
d in the low temperature phase. Using group theory, modes continuity and our calculations we were able to show that the phonons modes observed by Raman scattering at 1200K are only compatible with the ferroelectric $P6_{3} cm$ space group, thus supporting the idea of a ferroelectric to paraelectric phase transition at higher temperature. Finally we proposed a candidate for the phonon part of the observed electro-magnon. This mode, inactive both in Raman scattering and in Infra-Red, was shown to strongly couple to the Mn-Mn magnetic interactions.
We used fully correlated ab initio calculations to determine the effective parameters of Hubbard and t - J models for the thermoelectric misfit compound $rm Ca_3Co_4O_9$. As for the $rm Na_xCoO_2$ family the Fermi level orbitals are the $a_{1g}$ orbi
tals of the cobalt atoms ; the $e_g$ being always lower in energy by more than 240,meV. The electron correlation is found very large $U/tsim 26$ as well as the parameters fluctuations as a function of the structural modulation. The main consequences are a partial $a_{1g}$ electrons localization and a fluctuation of the in-plane magnetic exchange from AFM to FM. The behavior of the Seebeck coefficient as a function of temperature is discussed in view of the ab initio results, as well as the 496,K phase transition.
The control of matter properties (transport, magnetic, dielectric,...) using synthesis as thin films is strongly hindered by the lack of reliable theories, able to guide the design of new systems, through the understanding of the interface effects an
d of the way the substrate constraints are imposed to the material. The present paper analyses the energetic contributions at the interfaces, and proposes a model describing the microscopic mechanisms governing the interactions at an epitaxial interface between a manganite and another transition metal oxide in perovskite structure (as for instance $rm SrTiO_3$). The model is checked against experimental results and literature analysis.
We present ab-initio calculations of effective magnetic exchange, $J$, as well as Hubbard parameters ($t$, $U$ and $delta varepsilon$) as a function of the local distribution of doping atoms for the high-$T_c$ superconducting $rm (Ca_xLa_{1-x})(Ba_{1
.75-x}La_{0.25+x})Cu_3O_y$ family. We found that both the exchange and the energies of the magnetic orbitals are strongly dependant on the local dopant distribution, both through the induced modification of the apical oxygen location and of the induced local electrostatic potential. The $J$ real-space map, for a random distribution of dopants, positively compares with observed STS gap inhomogeneity maps. Similarly, the orbital energy fluctuations induce weak charge inhomogeneities on copper sites, that can be positively compared with the observed LDOS inhomogeneities. These results clearly support an extrinsic origin of both the gap inhomogeneities and LDOS.
An efficient real space method is derived for the evaluation of the Madelungs potential of ionic crystals. The proposed method is an extension of the Evjens method. It takes advantage of a general analysis for the potential convergence in real space.
Indeed, we show that the series convergence is exponential as a function of the number of annulled multipolar momenta in the unit cell. The method proposed in this work reaches such an exponential convergence rate. Its efficiency is comparable to the Ewalds method, however unlike the latter, it uses only simple algebraic functions.
