Ladungs- und Orbitalordnungsphänomene in Übergangsmetalloxidverbindungen unter hydrostatischem Druck

The thesis is dealing with the investigation of charge and orbital order and their behaviour under external pressure. Therefore, a new pressure cell has been developed which allows the observation of superlattice reflections corresponding to the order phenomena under pressure using scattering of high-energy synchrotron radiation. The maximum pressure that can be reached is 1.25 GPa. Until today there has been no possibility to conduct such studies of charge and orbital order superlattice reflections under pressure using x-ray scattering. The intensities of the reflections of the single crystalline samples are quite weak compared to fundamental peaks. Therefore the measurements are strongly affected by the absorption of the radiation in the pressure cell itself. Further difficulties result from the facts that low temperatures are needed and the sample has to be oriented in reciprocal space after being mounted into the cell. Therefore, the design of a compact clamp-type piston pressure cell was chosen here. The cell is made from a copper-beryllium alloy with the wall thickness reduced in the height of the sample volume. This allows the usage inside a closed-cycle cryostat mounted on a three-axis-diffractometer. Absorption effects are minimized due to the combination of reduced wall thickness and the usage of high energy synchrotron radiation (E = 100 keV at the beamline BW5 at HASYLAB/DESY). The new experimental technique was established and used for a study of two representatives of the transition metal oxide compounds, i.e. doped cuprates and manganites, which belong to the class of strongly correlated electron systems. The 1/8-doped cuprate La_{2-x}Ba_{x}CuO_{4} reveals an ordered state at low temperatures. Inside the CuO_{2} planes a combined order of charge stripes and antiferromagnetic spin stripes is observed. The ordering results from the interaction between charge, spin and lattice degrees of freedom. Here the lattice degrees of freedom play a major role. Particularly, a structural transition from an orthorhombic to a tetragonal symmetry is prerequisite for the observation of the ordered state. The cell constructed in this work allows a more exact analysis of the coupling between the crystal lattice and the formation of the charge and spin ordered phase. The manganite system Pr_{0.7}(Ca_{0.9}Sr_{0.1})_{0.3}MnO_{3} shows a strong magnetoresistive effect, called colossal magnetoresistance (CMR). In this system, several ordered phases can be found, which exhibit charge, spin and - since the orbital degree of freedom is also present in the manganites - additionally orbital ordering phenomena. In particular, an antiferromagnetically spin ordered insulating phase, which is connected to a charge- and orbital ordered state competes with a ferromagnetic metallic phase. This competition leads to a phase separation, which determines the properties of the sample. Both phases are strongly coupled to the lattice degrees of freedom, so that application of external pressure drastically affects the interplay between the different phases and allows a detailed study of the relation between the charge and orbital ordered phase and the crystal structure.

Level thesis:degree_level

thesis.doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher

Technische Universität Dresden

Year

2006

Author dc:creator

• Kiele, Sven

Contributors dc:contributor

• Büchner, Bernd
• Abd-Elmeguid, Mohsen M.
• Loewenhaupt, Michael

• CMR
• Druck
• Druckzelle
• HTSL
• Hochtemperatursupraleitung
• Kuprate
• Ladungsordnung
• Magnetowiderstand
• Manganate
• Orbitalordnung
• Phasenseparation
• Röntgenstreuung
• Streifenordnung
• HTSC
• charge order
• cuprates
• high temperature superconductivity
• magnetoresistance
• manganites
• orbital order
• phase separation
• pressure
• pressure cell
• stripe order
• x-ray scattering