TY - JOUR
T1 - Spin-state transition in LaCoO3
T2 - Direct neutron spectroscopic evidence of excited magnetic states
AU - Podlesnyak, A.
AU - Streule, S.
AU - Mesot, J.
AU - Medarde, M.
AU - Pomjakushina, E.
AU - Conder, K.
AU - Tanaka, A.
AU - Haverkort, M. W.
AU - Khomskii, D. I.
PY - 2006
Y1 - 2006
N2 - A gradual spin-state transition occurs in LaCoO3 around T∼80-120K, whose detailed nature remains controversial. We studied this transition by means of inelastic neutron scattering and found that with increasing temperature an excitation at ∼0.6meV appears, whose intensity increases with temperature, following the bulk magnetization. Within a model including crystal-field interaction and spin-orbit coupling, we interpret this excitation as originating from a transition between thermally excited states located about 120K above the ground state. We further discuss the nature of the magnetic excited state in terms of intermediate-spin (t2g5eg1, S=1) versus high-spin (t2g4eg2, S=2) states. Since the g factor obtained from the field dependence of the inelastic neutron scattering is g∼3, the second interpretation is definitely favored.
AB - A gradual spin-state transition occurs in LaCoO3 around T∼80-120K, whose detailed nature remains controversial. We studied this transition by means of inelastic neutron scattering and found that with increasing temperature an excitation at ∼0.6meV appears, whose intensity increases with temperature, following the bulk magnetization. Within a model including crystal-field interaction and spin-orbit coupling, we interpret this excitation as originating from a transition between thermally excited states located about 120K above the ground state. We further discuss the nature of the magnetic excited state in terms of intermediate-spin (t2g5eg1, S=1) versus high-spin (t2g4eg2, S=2) states. Since the g factor obtained from the field dependence of the inelastic neutron scattering is g∼3, the second interpretation is definitely favored.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33845520679&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.247208
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.247208
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33845520679
SN - 0031-9007
VL - 97
JO - Physical Review Letters
JF - Physical Review Letters
IS - 24
M1 - 247208
ER -