Observation of Orbital Currents in CuO Scagnoli, V.; Staub, U.; Bodenthin, Y. ...
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
05/2011, Letnik:
332, Številka:
6030
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Orbital currents are proposed to be the order parameter of the pseudo-gap phase of cuprate high-temperature superconductors. We used resonant x-ray diffraction to observe orbital currents in a ...copper-oxygen plaquette, the basic building block of cuprate superconductors. The confirmation of the existence of orbital currents is an important step toward the understanding of the cuprates as well as materials lacking inversion symmetry, such as magnetically induced multiferroics. Although observed in the antiferromagnetic state of cupric oxide, we show that orbital currents can occur even in the absence of long-range magnetic moment ordering.
We investigated the magnetic structure of an orthorhombic YMnO(3) thin film by resonant soft x-ray and hard x-ray diffraction. We observed a temperature-dependent incommensurate magnetic reflection ...below 45 K and a commensurate lattice-distortion reflection below 35 K. These results demonstrate that the ground state is composed of coexisting E-type and cycloidal states. Their different ordering temperatures clarify the origin of the large polarization to be caused by the E-type antiferromagnetic states in the orthorhombic YMnO(3) thin film.
We investigate the structural response of charge and orbitally ordered (CO/OO) manganites to ultrafast optical excitation using optical reflectivity and x-ray diffraction as a probe. We study a La ...sub(0.42) Ca sub(0.58) MnO sub(3) (LCMO) thin film and a La sub(0.25) Pr sub(0.375) Ca sub(0.375) MnO sub(3) (LPCMO) single crystal. For both materials we observe oscillations in the optical responses that are assigned to a coherent optical phonon generated via displacive excitation. The coherent phonon disappears either when increasing the temperature above TCO / OO or when raising the excitation fluence above a certain threshold. At low excitation fluences the amplitude and lifetime of this phonon behave similarly to the order parameter of the structural phase transition.
We studied the charge-orbital ordering in the superlattice of charge-ordered insulating Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3 and ferromagnetic metallic La0.5Sr0.5MnO3 by resonant soft x-ray diffraction (RSXD) and hard ...x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (HXPES). A temperature-dependent incommensurability is found in the orbital ordering by RSXD. In addition, a large hysteresis is observed that is caused by phase competition between the insulating charge ordered and metallic ferromagnetic states. No magnetic phase transitions are observed in contrast to pure Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3 thin films, confirming the unique character of the superlattice. Mn HXPES spectra revealed a hysteresis in the metalicity, supporting the picture of phase competition. The deviation from the commensurate orbital order can be directly related to the decrease of ordered-layer thickness that leads to dimensional crossover from three-dimensional to two-dimensional orbital ordering.
The effect of x rays on an orbital and charge ordered epitaxial film of a Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3 is presented. As the film is exposed to x rays, the antiferromagnetic response increases and concomitantly the ...conductivity of the film improve. These results are discussed in terms of a persistent x-ray induced doping, leading to a modification of the magnetic structure. This effect allows writing electronic and magnetic information in the film and represents a novel way of manipulating magnetism.
ZnO thin films of different thicknesses were deposited by pulsed direct-current magnetron sputtering onto poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) substrates and afterwards poly 3, ...4-ethylenedioxythiophene:polystyrenesulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) was spin-coated onto the ZnO film. Spectroscopic ellipsometry in the Vis–fUV energy range (1.5–6.5 eV), X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy were used to reveal the properties of the deposited films. The size of crystallites increased from 5.1 to 7.4 nm, whereas the crystallinity of the ZnO films has been improved. The influence of different ZnO thickness on the optical properties of the PEDOT:PSS layer was studied as well. As the thickness of ZnO films increased, the surface roughness increased but the energy gap decreased after a critical thickness. Concerning the consequences to the PEDOT:PSS optical properties, no major changes occurred in the transition energies.
We employ resonant soft x-ray diffraction (RSXD) to isolate the signal from the CE-type antiferromagnetic phase of (La,Pr)1−xCaxMnO3 (with x≈3/8), and follow only this phase through the known phases ...of the material in the B−T phase diagram. This material is known to exhibit a range of electronic ordering phenomena, most notably a metal-insulator transition (associated with colossal magnetoresistance) and phase separation between the antiferromagnetic phase and a ferromagnetic phase. Bulk magnetization measurements under the same B−T conditions were also conducted, giving a full picture of both phases for direct side-by-side comparison. The comparison specifically focuses on the metal-insulator transition. Upon magnetic field ramping to this transition, we find that the CE-type order undergoes a sharp quench at high temperatures (above phase coexistence temperatures) but that at lower temperatures, where the CE order is metastable, the transition broadens significantly. At the lowest temperatures, where a spin glass-type phase is expected, a slow annihilation of remanent CE domains is observed. Finally, a refined phase diagram is presented.
Time resolved optical reflectivity and x-ray diffraction techniques are employed to study the laser-induced structural response in two charge and orbitally ordered manganites. Optical data indicate a ...non-thermal nature of the laser-triggered phase transition via the disappearance of an optical phonon related to the charge and orbitally ordered phase. The x-ray diffraction measurements on superlattice reflections confirm the non-thermal time scale of the initial step of this phase transition but also show that the complete change of structural symmetry is not instantaneous.
We have used soft x-ray magnetic diffraction at the Fe3+ L2,3 edges to examine to what extent the Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interaction in Ba3NbFe3Si2O14 influences its low-temperature magnetic structure. ...A modulated component of the moments along the c axis is present, adding to the previously proposed helical magnetic configuration of coplanar moments in the a,b plane. This leads to a "helical-butterfly" structure and suggests that both the multiaxial in-plane and the uniform out-of-plane Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya vectors are relevant. A nonzero orbital magnetic signal is also observed at the oxygen K edge, which reflects the surprisingly strong hybridization between iron 3d and oxygen 2p states, given the nominal spherical symmetry of the Fe3+ half-filled shell.
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