Dynamic distortions in the YTiO3 ferromagnet

Bing Li, Despina Louca, Biao Hu, Jennifer L. Niedziela, Jianshi Zhou, John B. Goodenough

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Abstract

The orbitally ordered YTiO3 ferromagnet is revisited to investigate the influence of local lattice dynamics on the magnetic transition. By probing the local lattice dynamics using inelastic neutron scattering and the dynamic pair density function (DPDF) analysis, we find that strong, local anharmonic fluctuations persist up to 60 meV. The spread in energy is expected of fluctuations that are well-defined in real-space. The anharmonicity is manifested in the form of a doublewell potential, where the spectral weight of the DPDF peak involving Y-O correlations shifts away from the central peak to two new peaks as a function of energy. This transition occurs around 40meV. The weight distribution between the two peaks is temperature dependent that corresponds to a change in the nature of the local modes. The anharmonicity in the Y-O local modes most likely affects the Ti orbital overlap leading to a temperature dependent spin disorder.

Original languageEnglish
Article number084601
JournalJournal of the Physical Society of Japan
Volume83
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 15 2014

Funding

FundersFunder number
National Science FoundationDMR1122603

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