Localization of electrons due to orbitally ordered bi-stripes in the bilayer manganite La(2-2x)Sr(1+2x)Mn2O7 (x ~ 0.59)

Low Temperature Dynamic Polaron Liquid in a Manganite Exhibiting Colossal Magnetoresistance

Polarons-fermionic charge carriers bearing a strong companion lattice deformation-exhibit a natural tendency for self-localization due to the recursive interaction between electrons and the lattice. While polarons are ubiquitous in insulators, how they evolve in transitions to metallic and superconducting states in quantum materials remains an open question. Here, we use resonant inelastic x-ray scattering to track the electron-lattice coupling in the colossal magneto-resistive bi-layer manganite La_{1.2}Sr_{1.8}Mn_{2}O_{7} across its metal-to-insulator transition. The response in the insulating high-temperature state features harmonic emissions of a dispersionless oxygen phonon at small energy transfer. Upon cooling into the metallic state, we observe a drastic redistribution of spectral weight from the region of these harmonic emissions to a broad high energy continuum. In concert with theoretical calculations, we show that this evolution implies a shift in electron-lattice coupling from static to dynamic lattice distortions that leads to a distinct polaronic ground state in the low temperature metallic phase-a dynamic polaron liquid.

Giant electron-phonon coupling of the breathing plane oxygen phonons in the dynamic stripe phase of [Formula: see text]

Doped antiferromagnets host a vast array of physical properties and learning how to control them is one of the biggest challenges of condensed matter physics. [Formula: see text] (LSNO) is a classic example of such a material. At low temperatures holes introduced via substitution of La by Sr segregate into lines to form boundaries between magnetically ordered domains in the form of stripes. The stripes become dynamic at high temperatures, but LSNO remains insulating presumably because an interplay between magnetic correlations and electron-phonon coupling localizes charge carriers. Magnetic degrees of freedom have been extensively investigated in this system, but phonons are almost completely unexplored. We searched for electron-phonon anomalies in LSNO by inelastic neutron scattering. Giant renormalization of plane Ni-O bond-stretching modes that modulate the volume around Ni appears on entering the dynamic charge stripe phase. Other phonons are a lot less sensitive to stripe melting. Dramatic overdamping of the breathing modes indicates that dynamic stripe phase may host small polarons. We argue that this feature sets electron-phonon coupling in nickelates apart from that in cuprates where breathing phonons are not overdamped and point out remarkable similarities with the colossal magnetoresistance manganites.

Spin Stripe Order in a Square Planar Trilayer Nickelate

Trilayer nickelates, which exhibit a high degree of orbital polarization combined with an electron count (d^{8.67}) corresponding to overdoped cuprates, have been identified as a promising candidate platform for achieving high-T_{c} superconductivity. One such material, La_{4}Ni_{3}O_{8}, undergoes a semiconductor-insulator transition at ∼105  K, which was recently shown to arise from the formation of charge stripes. However, an outstanding issue has been the origin of an anomaly in the magnetic susceptibility at the transition and whether it signifies the formation of spin stripes akin to single layer nickelates. Here we report single crystal neutron diffraction measurements (both polarized and unpolarized) that establish that the ground state is indeed magnetic. The ordering is modeled as antiferromagnetic spin stripes that are commensurate with the charge stripes, the magnetic ordering occurring in individual trilayers that are essentially uncorrelated along the crystallographic c axis. A comparison of the charge and spin stripe order parameters reveals that, in contrast to single-layer nickelates such as La_{2-x}Sr_{x}NiO_{4} as well as related quasi-2D oxides including manganites, cobaltates, and cuprates, these orders uniquely appear simultaneously, thus demonstrating a stronger coupling between spin and charge than in these related low-dimensional correlated oxides.

Diversity of charge orderings in correlated systems

The phenomenon associated with inhomogeneous distribution of electron density is known as a charge ordering. In this work, we study the zero-bandwidth limit of the extended Hubbard model, which can be considered as a simple effective model of charge ordered insulators. It consists of the on-site interaction U and the intersite density-density interactions W_{1} and W_{2} between nearest neighbors and next-nearest neighbors, respectively. We derived the exact ground state diagrams for different lattice dimensionalities and discuss effects of small finite temperatures in the limit of high dimensions. In particular, we estimated the critical interactions for which new ordered phases emerge (laminar or stripe and four-sublattice-type). Our analysis show that the ground state of the model is highly degenerated. One of the most intriguing finding is that the nonzero temperature removes these degenerations.

Stacked charge stripes in the quasi-2D trilayer nickelate La4Ni3O8

The quasi-2D nickelate La4Ni3O8 (La-438), consisting of trilayer networks of square planar Ni ions, is a member of the so-called T' family, which is derived from the Ruddlesden-Popper (R-P) parent compound La4Ni3O10-x by removing two oxygen atoms and rearranging the rock salt layers to fluorite-type layers. Although previous studies on polycrystalline samples have identified a 105-K phase transition with a pronounced electronic and magnetic response but weak lattice character, no consensus on the origin of this transition has been reached. Here, we show using synchrotron X-ray diffraction on high-pO2 floating zone-grown single crystals that this transition is associated with a real space ordering of charge into a quasi-2D charge stripe ground state. The charge stripe superlattice propagation vector, q = (2/3, 0, 1), corresponds with that found in the related 1/3-hole doped single-layer R-P nickelate, La5/3Sr1/3NiO4 (LSNO-1/3; Ni(2.33+)), with orientation at 45° to the Ni-O bonds. The charge stripes in La-438 are weakly correlated along c to form a staggered ABAB stacking that reduces the Coulomb repulsion among the stripes. Surprisingly, however, we find that the charge stripes within each trilayer of La-438 are stacked in phase from one layer to the next, at odds with any simple Coulomb repulsion argument.

Materials design for new superconductors

Since the announcement in 2011 of the Materials Genome Initiative by the Obama administration, much attention has been given to the subject of materials design to accelerate the discovery of new materials that could have technological implications. Although having its biggest impact for more applied materials like batteries, there is increasing interest in applying these ideas to predict new superconductors. This is obviously a challenge, given that superconductivity is a many body phenomenon, with whole classes of known superconductors lacking a quantitative theory. Given this caveat, various efforts to formulate materials design principles for superconductors are reviewed here, with a focus on surveying the periodic table in an attempt to identify cuprate analogues.

Evidence of photo-induced dynamic competition of metallic and insulating phase in a layered manganite

We show evidence that the competition between the antiferromagetic metallic phase and the charge- and orbital-ordered insulating phase at the reentrant phase boundary of a layered manganite, La0.99Sr2.01Mn2O7, can be manipulated using ultrafast optical excitation. The time-dependent evolution of the Jahn-Teller superlattice reflection, which indicates the formation of the charge and orbital order, was measured at different laser fluences. The laser-induced enhancement and reduction the Jahn-Teller reflection intensity shows a reversal of sign between earlier (~10 ns) and later (~150 ns) time delays during the relaxation after photo excitation. This effect is consistent with a scenario whereby the laser excitation modulates the local competition between the metallic and the insulating phases.

Spontaneous breaking of isotropy observed in the electronic transport of rare-earth tritellurides

We show that the isotropic conductivity in the normal state of rare-earth tritelluride RTe3 compounds is broken by the occurrence of the unidirectional charge density wave (CDW) in the (a, c) plane below the Peierls transition temperature. In contrast with quasi-one-dimensional systems, the resistivity anomaly associated with the CDW transition is strong in the direction perpendicular to the CDW wave vector Q (a axis) and very weak in the CDW wave vector Q direction (c axis). We qualitatively explain this result by calculating the electrical conductivity for the electron dispersion with momentum-dependent CDW gap as determined by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Similar measurements of in-plane conductivity may uncover the gap anisotropy in other compounds for which angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy is not available.

Observation of electronic inhomogeneity and charge density waves in a bilayer La(2-2x)Sr(1+2x)Mn2O7 single crystal

We employed a scanning tunneling microscope to image the (001) surface topography and local density of states (LDOS) in La(2-2x)Sr(1+2x)Mn(2)O(7) (x=0.32, LSMO) single crystals below the Curie temperature (T(C)≈120 K). The LDOS maps revealed a stripelike modulation propagating along the tetragonal a axis with a wavelength of about 16 Å, which is indicative of a charge density wave (CDW). The observed CDW in the x=0.32 sample is far from the Fermi surface nesting instability as compared with the data of angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy in an x=0.40 sample. The stripe model developed previously for cuprates can explain the observed CDW in our LSMO sample, indicating that competing interactions between localized and itinerant phases are the origin of the spatial modulations present intrinsically in cuprates and manganites.