Colossal magnetoresistive manganites

Magnetoelectronic features of the perovskite-type manganites are overviewed in the light of the mechanism of the colossal magnetoresistance (CMR). The essential ingredient of the CMR physics is not only the double-exchange interaction but also other competing interactions, such as ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic superexchange interactions and charge/orbital ordering instabilities as well as their strong coupling with the lattice deformation. In particular, the orbital degree of freedom of the conduction electrons in the near-degenerate 3d e_g state plays an essential role in producing the unconventional metal–insulator phenomena in the manganites via strong coupling with spin, charge, and lattice degrees of freedom. Insulating or poorly conducting states arise from the long or short-range correlations of charge and orbital, but can be mostly melted or turned into the orbital-disordered conducting state by application of a magnetic field, producing the CMR or the insulator–metal transition.     

Verwey相变处Fe3O4的结构、磁性和电输运特性

作为典型的金属–绝缘体转变,Fe3O4的Verwey相变蕴涵的丰富物理现象与微观机制,因而受到了人们的广泛关注.在Verwey相变处,Fe3O4的晶体结构、电子结构以及磁各向异性等均发生转变,但其磁基态并未发生改变.与其他强关联体系相比,Fe3O4的Verwey相变不需要考虑磁交换耦合作用的变化,有利于揭示强关联体系中金属–绝缘体转变的物理本质.本文从晶体结构、电荷有序、电输运特性、磁性和铁电特性等方面简要地介绍了Fe3O4的Verwey相变的研究历史和现状.     

Doping dependent metal to insulator transition in the (Bi,Pb)-2212 system: The evolution of structural and electronic properties with europium substitution

The present work investigates the effect of europium substitution on the(Bi,Pb)-2212 system in the concentration range 0.5 ≤ x ≤ 1.0.Phase analysis and lattice parameter calculations on the powder diffraction data and the elemental analysis of EDX show that the Eu atoms are successfully substituted into the(Bi,Pb)-2212 system.Resistivity measurements(64-300 K) reveal that the system exhibits superconductivity at x ≤ 0.5 and semiconductivity at x > 0.5.With the complete suppression of superconductivity which is known to be a quasi-two dimensional phenomenon in these materials,a metal to insulator transition takes place at x = 0.6 and the predominant conduction mechanism is found to be variable range hopping between localized states,resulting in macroscopic semiconducting behaviour.The results of electrical and structural properties of the doped(Bi,Pb)-2212 compounds suggest that the decrease of charge carrier concentration and the induced structural disorder are the more effective and dominant mechanisms in the origin of the metal to insulator transition and suppression of superconductivity due to Eu substitution at its Sr site.     

Infrared spectroscopic studies of GdBaCo2O5.5

This paper reports infrared spectroscopic studies on GdBaCo₂O_5.5 layered perovskite which exhibits successive magnetic transitions from paramagnetic to ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic states as well as high-temperature metal to insulator transition and a change in charge transport mechanism at low temperature. Infrared absorption spectra recorded at various temperatures in the range 80–350 K reveal changes in the positions of Co–O stretching and bending frequencies which provide an explanation to the magnetic and transport behaviour of this compound.     

First-order transition from a Kondo insulator to a ferromagnetic metal in single crystalline FeSi(1-x)Ge(x)

The phase diagram of FeSi(1-x)Ge(x), obtained from magnetic, thermal, and transport measurements on single crystals, shows a discontinuous transition from Kondo insulator to ferromagnetic metal with x at a critical concentration, x(c) approximately 0.25. The gap of the insulating phase strongly decreases with x. The specific heat gamma coefficient appears to track the density of states of a Kondo insulator. The phase diagram is consistent with an insulator-metal transition induced by a reduction of the hybridization with x in conjunction with disorder on the Si/Ge ligand site.     

Novel effects of localization due to intrinsic disorder in manganites

We discuss the effects of a novel ‘intrinsic’ disorder in hole-doped rare-earth manganites. Using effective field theory as well as direct numerical simulations, we show that this disorder can have dramatic effects in terms of the transition from ferromagnetic insulator to ferromagnetic metal upon hole-doping, including an Anderson localized regime where variable range hopping may be observed.     

Physics of metal–correlated barrier with disorder–metal heterostructure

A metal-disordered and correlated barrier–metal heterostructure is studied at half-filling using unrestricted Hartree Fock method. The corresponding clean system has been shown to be an insulator for any finite on site correlation. Interestingly we find that introduction of explicit disorder induces an inhomogeneous, plane dependent, modulated spin and charge order. There is a metal–insulator transition at a critical value of disorder. The critical value corresponds to the point at which disorder kills the gap at half filling due to onsite correlation and completely destroys the plane dependent antiferromagnetic order. The wavefunctions are found to delocalize by increasing disorder, thus rendering the system metallic.     

Double peak behavior of resistivity curves in Cd doped LaMnO3 perovskite systems

The effect of Cd doping on transport, magnetotransport, and magnetic properties has been investigated in the perovskite La_1−xCd_xMnO₃ (0x0.5) systems. The ρ(T) curves exhibit a sharp metal insulator transition (T_p1), which is close to paramagnetic to ferromagnetic transition (T_c) obtained from M−T curves for all samples. In addition, ρ(T) curves for Cd doped samples exhibit another broad transition (T_P2) below T_p1. This transition becomes more prominent and the transition temperature (T_p2) shifts to lower temperature with increasing Cd content. Such double peak behavior in the ρ(T) curve is attributed to the phase separation between the ferromagnetic metallic phases and the ferromagnetic insulating phases induced by the electronic inhomogeneity in the samples.     

Zero temperature phase diagram of the ferromagnetic Kondo lattice

We study numerically the one-dimensional ferromagnetic Kondo lattice, a model widely used to describe nickel and manganese perovskites. Due to the competition between double and super-exchange, we find a region where the formation of magnetic islands induces a charge-ordered state. This ordering is present even in the absence of any inter-site Coulomb repulsion and presents an insulating gap associated to the charge structure. We study the metal–insulator transition induced by a magnetic field which removes simultaneously both charge and spin orderings. This new mechanism should be taken into account in theories of charge ordering involving spin degrees of freedom.     

Quantum phase transitions in electronic systems

Quantum phase transitions occur at zero temperature when some non‐thermal control‐parameter like pressure or chemical composition is changed. They are driven by quantum rather than thermal fluctuations. In this review we first give a pedagogical introduction to quantum phase transitions and quantum critical behavior emphasizing similarities with and differences to classical thermal phase transitions. We then illustrate the general concepts by discussing a few examples of quantum phase transitions occurring in electronic systems. The ferromagnetic transition of itinerant electrons shows a very rich behavior since the magnetization couples to additional electronic soft modes which generates an effective long‐range interaction between the spin fluctuations. We then consider the influence of rare regions on quantum phase transitions in systems with quenched disorder, taking the antiferromagnetic transitions of itinerant electrons as a primary example. Finally we discuss some aspects of the metal‐insulator transition in the presence of quenched disorder and interactions.     

Magnetic dilution and electronic nature in La0.7Pb0.3Mn1−xZnxO3

We have studied the magnetic dilution and electronic nature of Zn doping on the Mn site in the colossal magnetoresistant material La_0.7Pb_0.3MnO₃ (x≤0.3). Small non-magnetic Zn²⁺ doping tends to separate the system into ferromagnetic clusters to weaken the long-range ferromagnetic order and to reduce the Curie temperature. The spin polarizability of the x=0–0.3 samples is estimated to be 0.97–1.00, indicating that the x=0–0.3 samples are the spin polarized materials in which the conductivity is dominated by single-spin charge carriers. Small doping (x≥0.1) induces the metal–insulator transition and destroys the metallic state with long-range ferromagnetic order.     

Metal to insulator transition in epitaxial graphene induced by molecular doping

The capability to control the type and amount of charge carriers in a material and, in the extreme case, the transition from metal to insulator, is one of the key challenges of modern electronics. By employing angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy we find that a reversible metal to insulator transition and a fine-tuning of the charge carriers from electrons to holes can be achieved in epitaxial bilayer and single layer graphene by molecular doping. The effects of electron screening and disorder are also discussed. These results demonstrate that epitaxial graphene is suitable for electronics applications, as well as provide new opportunities for studying the hole doping regime of the Dirac cone in graphene.     

Interference of atomic levels and superfluid-Mott insulator phase transitions in a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate

The superfluid-Mott insulator phase transition in a Bose-Einstein condensate of neutral atoms with doubly degenerate internal ground states in an optical lattice is theoretically investigated. The optical lattice is created by two counterpropagating linearly polarized laser beams with the angle theta between the polarization vectors (lin-angle-lin configuration). The phase diagram of the system and the critical values of the parameters are worked out. It is shown that the sign of the detuning plays an important role and that there is a strong suppression of the Mott transition in the case of blue detuning. Varying the laser intensity and/or the angle theta one can manipulate the Mott insulator to superfluid quantum phase transition as well as prepare the condensate in physically distinguishable "ferromagnetic" and "antiferromagnetic" superfluid states.     

Effects of disorder on ferromagnetism in diluted magnetic semiconductors

We present results of a numerical mean-field treatment of interacting spins and carriers in doped diluted magnetic semiconductors, which takes into account the positional disorder present in these alloy systems. Within our mean-field approximation, disorder enhances the ferromagnetic transition temperature for metallic densities not too far from the metal-insulator transition. Concurrently, the ferromagnetic phase is found to have very unusual temperature dependence of the magnetization as well as specific heat as a result of disorder. Unusual spin and charge transport is implied.     

Cr掺杂对BaxSr1-xRuO3体系磁性和输运性质的影响

本文采用固相反应法制备了BaxSr1-xRuO3和BaxSr1-xRu0.9Cr0.1O3两组样品,对比研究了它们磁性和电输运性质.当掺杂量少于0.2时,体系处于有少许畸变的钙钛矿的3C结构,Cr的掺入很大幅度提高了体系的铁磁转变温度Tc,电输运性质上也由坏金属行为转变为Mott绝缘体的行为,并且在铁磁相变附近出现电阻拐点.当掺杂量大于等于0.2时,体系发生结构相变,由畸变钙钛矿3C结构变为6 M的单斜结构.这时,Cr的掺入对体系的影响并不明显.这些结果表明引起SrRuO3铁磁转变温度升高的Ru+5-O-Cr+3相互作用对晶格结构有强烈的依赖关系.     

d Orbital doping into pi charge-ordered molecular insulator

A quasi-one-dimensional pi-electron charge-ordered insulator, (DI-DCNQI)2Ag, is metallized by Cu doping into the Ag sites. It is found that with doping the charge gap is diminished and then disorder-induced insulating nature comes up, eventually followed by transition or crossover to a pi-d networked metal. The profile of the charge-gap collapse is consistent with the prediction of the theory highlighting the interplay between electron correlation and disorder. The present doping method is regarded as doping of d orbital, which is different from the conventional charge and/or spin doping developed in cuprates and manganites.     

Disorder and pseudogap in strongly correlated systems: Phase diagram in the DMFT + Σ approach

The influence of disorder and pseudogap fluctuations on the Mott insulator-metal transition in strongly correlated systems has been studied in the framework of the generalized dynamic mean field theory (DMFT + Σ approach). Using the results of investigations of the density of states (DOS) and optical conductivity, a phase diagram (disorder-Hubbard interaction-temperature) is constructed for the paramagnetic Anderson-Hubbard model, which allows both the effects of strong electron correlations and the influence of strong disorder to be considered. Strong correlations are described using the DMFT, while a strong disorder is described using a generalized self-consistent theory of localization. The DOS and optical conductivity of the paramagnetic Hubbard model have been studied in a pseudogap state caused by antiferromagnetic spin (or charge) short-range order fluctuations with a finite correlation length, which have been modeled by a static Gaussian random field. The effect of a pseudogap on the Mott insulator-metal transition has been studied. It is established that, in both cases, the static Gaussian random field (related to the disorder or pseudogap fluctuations) leads to suppression of the Mott transition, broadening of the coexistence region of the insulator and metal phases, and an increase in the critical temperature at which the coexistence region disappears.     

Effects of phosphorus doping on the physical properties of axion insulator candidate EuIn2As2

We report an investigation on the single crystal growth, magnetic and transport properties of EuIn₂(As_1-xP_x)₂ (0≤x≤ 1). The physical properties of axion insulator candidate EuIn₂As₂ can be effectively tuned by P-doping. With increasing x, the c-axis lattice parameter decreases linearly, the magnetic transition temperature gradually increases and ferromagnetic interactions are enhanced. This is similar to the previously reported high pressure effect on EuIn₂As₂. For x=0.40, a spin glass state at T_g=10 K emerges together with the observations of a butter-fly shaped magnetic hysteresis and slow magnetic behavior. Besides, magnetic transition has great influence on the charge carriers in this system and negative colossal magnetoresistance is observed for all P-doped samples. Our findings suggest that EuIn₂(As_1-xP_x)₂ is a promising material playground for exploring novel topological states.     

Metal–insulator transition and colossal magnetoresistance: relevance of electron–lattice coupling and electronic phase separation

In this article, we review the insulator–metal transition and the colossal magnetoresistance effect in manganites. The relevance of electron–lattice coupling and the resulting Jahn–Teller polaron is elaborated. The general features of electronic phase separation, which results from disorder and strain effects, are discussed along with electron–lattice coupling effects. Although a comprehensive theory is still lacking that can account for all the intricate features of manganite physics, electronic-phase separation and electron–lattice coupling appear to capture the essence of the colossal magnetoresistance effect in manganites.