Charge ordering and polaron formation in the magnetoresistive oxide La0.7Ca0.3MnO3
Neutron scattering has been used to study the nature of the ferromagnetic transition in a single crystal of the perovskite La0. 7Ca0.3MnO3. Diffuse scattering from lattice polarons develops as the Curie temperature is approached from below, along with short range polaron correlations that are consistent with stripe formation. Both the scattering due to the polaron correlations and the anomalous quasielastic component in the magnetic fluctuation spectrum maximize very close to T(C), in a manner remarkably similar to the resistivity, indicating that they have a common origin.
Adams
CP
NIST Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899-8562 and Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
Lynn
JW
Mukovskii
YM
Arsenov
AA
Shulyatev
DA