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Orbital-order-induced metal-insulator transition in La(1-x)Ca(x)MnO3
Bas B Van Aken1, Oana D Jurchescu, Auke Meetsma
1Solid State Chemistry Laboratory, Materials Science Centre, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
We present evidence that the insulator-to-metal transition in La(1-x)Ca(x)MnO3 near x approximately 0.2 is driven by the suppression of coherent Jahn-Teller distortions, originating from d-type orbital ordering. The orbital-ordered state is characterized by large long-range Q2 distortions below T(O'- O*). Above T(O'- O*) we find evidence for coexistence between an orbital-ordered and an orbital-disordered state. This behavior is discussed in terms of electronic phase separation in an orbital-ordered insulating and an orbital-disordered metallic state.
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