On the Mechanism of the Spin State Transition of (Pr1-ySmy)1-xCaxCoO3

We study the magnetic susceptibility of mixed-valent La2-xSrxCoO4 single crystals in the doping range of 0.5<= x <= 0.8 for temperatures up to 1000 K. The magnetism below room temperature is described by paramagnetic Co2+ in the high-spin state and by Co3+ in the non-magnetic low-spin state. Above room temperature, an increase in susceptibility compared to the behavior expected from Co2+ is seen, which we attribute to a spin-state transition of Co3+. The susceptibility is ana...

The phase diagram of Pr0.65(CaySr1-y)0.35MnO3, 0.6 <= y <= 0.8, has been determined by neutron diffraction, magnetization and electrical conductivity measurements in order to investigate the nature of the transition between ferromagnetic metallic and charge-ordered insulating states near y=0.75. Two possible scenarios for this transition have been proposed: a "quantum critical point"-like feature, near which an associated charge-disordered paramagnetic phase is present, or a ...

We present the results of our investigations of physical properties for the novel Ce$_{1-x}$Pr$_x$CoGe$_3$ system performed with a number of experimental methods: magnetic susceptibility, specific heat, electrical resistivity, magnetoresistance, and thermoelectric power. Moreover, the electronic structure was studied by means of photoelectron spectroscopy measurements and first-principles calculations. All investigated compositions of the Ce$_{1-x}$Pr$_x$CoGe$_3$ series cryst...

X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements in Pr0.5Ca0.5CoO3 and (Pr,Y)0.55Ca0.45CoO3 compositions reveal that the valence of praseodymium ions is stable and essentially +3 (Pr [4f 2]) in the metallic state, but abruptly changes when carriers localize approaching the oxidation state +4 (Pr [4f 1]). This mechanism appears to be the driving force of the metal-insulator transition. The ground insulating state of Pr0.5Ca0.5CoO3 is an homogeneous Co3.5-d state stabilized by a char...

Neutron scattering has been used to investigate the evolution of the long- and short-range charge-ordered (CO), ferromagnetic (FM), and antiferromagnetic (AF) correlations in single crystals of Pr1-xCaxMnO3. The existence and population of spin clusters as refected by short-range correlations are found to drastically depend on the doping (x) and temperature (T). Concentrated spin clusters coexist with long-range canted AF order in a wide temperature range in x = 0.3 while clu...

Here we report the magnetic properties of the layered cobalt oxide system, LixCoO2, in the whole range of Li composition, 0 <= x <= 1. Based on dc-magnetic susceptibility data, combined with results of 59Co-NMR/NQR observations, the electronic phase diagram of LixCoO2 has been established. As in the related material NaxCoO2, a magnetic critical point is found to exist between x = 0.35 and 0.40, which separates a Pauli-paramagnetic and a Curie-Weiss metals. In the Pauli-parama...

Transport and magnetic measurements have been carried out on perovskite Co-oxides R1-xAxCoO3 (R=La, Pr, and Nd; A=Ba, Sr and Ca; 0<x<0.5: All sets of the R and A species except Nd1-xBaxCoO3 have been studied.). With increasing the Sr- or Ba-concentration x, the system becomes metallic ferromagnet with rather large magnetic moments. For R=Pr and Nd and A=Ca, the system approaches the metal- insulator phase boundary but does not become metallic. The magnetic moments of the Ca-d...

The insulator-metal transition in single crystal La(5/8-y)Pr(y)Ca(3/8)MnO3 with y=0.35 was studied using synchrotron x-ray diffraction, electric resistivity, magnetic susceptibility, and specific heat measurements. Despite the dramatic drop in the resistivity at the insulator-metal transition temperature Tmi, the charge-ordering (CO) peaks exhibit no anomaly at this temperature and continue to grow below Tmi. Our data suggest then, that in addition to the CO phase, another in...

We systematically studied the magnetic and transport properties for the polycrystalline samples of Fe-doped perovskite cobaltites: Pr$_{1-y}$Ca$_{y}$Co$_{1-x}$Fe$_x$O$_3$ ($y$=0.3, $x$=0-0.15; $y$=0.45, $x$=0-0.3) and Gd$_{0.55}$Sr$_{0.45}$Co$_{1-x}$Fe$_x$O$_{3}$ ($x$=0-0.3). Fe doping leads to an enhancement of the ferromagnetism in the systems of Pr$_{1-y}$Ca$_{y}$Co$_{1-x}$Fe$_x$O$_3$, while the ferromagnetism is suppressed with further increasing Fe content and spin-glass...

We present a study of the structure, the electric resistivity, the magnetic susceptibility, and the thermal expansion of La$_{1-x}$Eu$_x$CoO$_3$. LaCoO$_3$ shows a temperature-induced spin-state transition around 100 K and a metal-insulator transition around 500 K. Partial substitution of La$^{3+}$ by the smaller Eu$^{3+}$ causes chemical pressure and leads to a drastic increase of the spin gap from about 190 K in LaCoO$_3$ to about 2000 K in EuCoO$_3$, so that the spin-state...