0000000000293321
AUTHOR
R. De Renzi
Magnetic order, metamagnetic transitions, and low-temperature spin freezing in Ca3Co2O6: an NMR study
We report on a 59Co NMR investigation of the trigonal cobaltate Ca3Co2O6 carried out on a single crystal, providing precise determinations of the electric field gradient and chemical shift tensors, and of the internal magnetic fields at the non-magnetic Co I sites, unavailable from former studies on powders. The magnetic field-induced ferri- and ferromagnetic phases at intermediate temperature (e.g. 10 K) are identified by distinct internal fields, well accounted for by purely dipolar interactions. The vanishing transferred hyperfine field at the Co I site indicates that the Co3+(I) orbitals do not participate in the intra-chain superexchange, in disagreement with a previous theoretical mod…
A numerical method to calculate the muon relaxation function in the presence of diffusion
We present an accurate and efficient method to calculate the effect of random fluctuations of the local field at the muon, for instance in the case muon diffusion, within the framework of the strong collision approximation. The method is based on a reformulation of the Markovian process over a discretized time base, leading to a summation equation for the muon polarization function which is solved by discrete Fourier transform. The latter is formally analogous, though not identical, to the integral equation of the original continuous-time model, solved by Laplace transform. With real-case parameter values, the solution of the discrete-time strong collision model is found to approximate the …
Magnetic phase diagram of La$_{2-x}$Sr$_{x}$CoO$_{4}$ revised using muon-spin relaxation
We report the results of a muon-spin relaxation ($\mu$SR) investigation of La$_{2-x}$Sr$_{x}$CoO$_{4}$, an antiferromagnetic insulating series which has been shown to support charge ordered and magnetic stripe phases and an hourglass magnetic excitation spectrum. We present a revised magnetic phase diagram, which shows that the suppression of the magnetic ordering temperature is highly sensitive to small concentrations of holes. Distinct behavior within an intermediate $x$ range ($0.2 \leq x \lesssim 0.6$) suggests that the putative stripe ordered phase extends to lower $x$ than previously thought. Further charge doping ($0.67 \leq x \leq 0.9$) prevents magnetic ordering for $T \gtrsim 1.5~…
NMR study of magnetic order, metamagnetic transitions, and low-temperature spin freezing in Ca3Co2O6
We report on a (59)Co NMR investigation of the trigonal cobaltate Ca(3)Co(2)O(6) carried out on a single crystal, providing precise determinations of the electric field gradient and chemical shift tensors, and of the internal magnetic fields at the nonmagnetic Co I sites, unavailable from former studies on powders. The magnetic-field-induced ferri-and ferromagnetic phases at intermediate temperature (e.g., 10 K) are identified by distinct internal fields, well accounted for by purely dipolar interactions. The vanishing transferred hyperfine field at the Co I site indicates that the Co(3+) (I) orbitals do not participate in the intrachain superexchange, in disagreement with a previous theore…
Band filling effect on polaron localization in La$_{1-x}($Ca$_y$Sr$_{1-y}$)$_{x}$MnO$_3$ manganites
We report on an a $\mu$SR and $^{55}$Mn NMR investigation of the magnetic order parameter as a function of temperature in the optimally doped La$_{5/8}$(Ca$_y$Sr$_{1-y}$)$_{3/8}$MnO$_3$ and in the underdoped La$_{1-x}$Sr$_{x}$MnO$_3$ and La$_{1-x}$Ca$_{x}$MnO$_3$ metallic manganite families. The study is aimed at unraveling the effect of lattice distortions, implicitly controlled by the Ca-Sr isoelectronic substitution, from that of hole doping $x$ on the Curie temperature $T_c$ and the order of the magnetic transition. At optimal doping, the transitions are second order at all $y$ values, including the $y=1$ (La$_{5/8}$Ca$_{3/8}$MnO$_3$) end member. In contrast, they are first order in the…
Slow magnetic fluctuations and superconductivity in fluorine-doped NdFeAsO
Among the widely studied superconducting iron-pnictide compounds belonging to the Ln1111 family (with Ln a lanthanide), a systematic investigation of the crossover region between the superconducting and the antiferromagnetic phase for the Ln = Nd case has been missing. We fill this gap by focusing on the intermediate doping regime of NdFeAsO(1-x)F(x) by means of dc-magnetometry and muon-spin spectroscopy measurements. The long-range order we detect at low fluorine doping is replaced by short-range magnetic interactions at x = 0.08, where also superconductivity appears. In this case, longitudinal-field muon-spin spectroscopy experiments show clear evidence of slow magnetic fluctuations that …