Crystalline electric field of the rare-earth nickelates RNiO{sub 3} (R=Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, and Pr{sub 1-x}La{sub x}, 0{<=}x{<=}0.7) determined by inelastic neutron scattering
- Laboratory for Neutron Scattering, ETH Zuerich and Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen PSI, (Switzerland)
- Swiss Light Source Project, Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen PSI, (Switzerland)
- Laboratoire des Fluorures, UPRES-A CNRS 6010, Universite du Maine, 72085 Le Mans Cedex, (France)
- Materials Science Divison, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States)
- ISIS Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot OX11 0QX, (United Kingdom)
The rare-earth based nickelates RNiO{sub 3} (R=Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, and Pr{sub 1-x}La{sub x}, 0{<=}x{<=}0.7) were studied by inelastic neutron scattering. Energy splittings due to the crystalline-electric-field (CEF) interaction at the R{sup 3+} site within the electronic ground-state J multiplet (for R=Pr, Nd, and Pr{sub 1-x}La{sub x}) as well as within the two lowest-lying J multiplets (for R=Sm and Eu) were directly observed, and the corresponding CEF energy-level schemes were reconstructed. The latter were rationalized in terms of CEF parameters, which vary smoothly over the rare-earth series and give magnetic properties associated with the R sublattice in agreement with results from neutron powder diffraction experiments. Across the metal-insulator transition, a continuous change in the electronic part of the CEF parameters is observed. However, an attempt to quantify a charge transfer from the observed variation of the CEF parameters in an effective point charge model failed, probably due to the strong covalency in these compounds. Across the structural transition occurring in Pr{sub 1-x}La{sub x}NiO{sub 3} at x=0.7, a change in the symmetry of the CEF ground state is observed, which has a profound influence on the thermodynamic properties. (c) 1999 The American Physical Society.
- OSTI ID:
- 20217946
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, Vol. 60, Issue 21; Other Information: PBD: 1 Dec 1999; ISSN 1098-0121
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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