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Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 237204 (2004) [4 pages]

Soft X-Ray Resonant Diffraction Study of Magnetic and Orbital Correlations in a Manganite Near Half Doping

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K. J. Thomas1, J. P. Hill1, S. Grenier1,2, Y-J. Kim1, P. Abbamonte3, L. Venema4, A. Rusydi3, Y. Tomioka5, Y. Tokura5,6, D. F. McMorrow7, G. Sawatzky8, and M. van Veenendaal9
1Department of Physics, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USA
2Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA
3National Synchrotron Light Source, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USA
4Materials Science Centre, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
5Correlated Electron Research Center (CERC), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba 305-8562, Japan
6Department of Applied Physics, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656, and Spin Superstructure Project, ERATO, Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST), Tsukuba 305-8562, Japan
7London Centre for Nanotechnology and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
8University of British Colombia, Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada V6T 1Z4
9Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, Illinois 60115, USA, and Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA

Received 18 November 2003; published 11 June 2004

We have utilized resonant x-ray diffraction at the Mn LII,III edges in order to directly compare magnetic and orbital correlations in Pr0.6Ca0.4MnO3. Comparing the widths of the magnetic and orbital diffraction peaks, we find that the magnetic correlation length exceeds that of the orbital order by nearly a factor of 2. Furthermore, we observe a large (∼3  eV) spectral weight shift between the magnetic and orbital resonant line shapes, which cannot be explained within the classic Goodenough picture of a charge-ordered ground state. To explain the shift, we calculate the orbital and magnetic resonant diffraction line shapes based on a relaxed charge-ordered model.

© 2004 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.237204
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.237204
PACS:
75.30.–m, 71.70.–d, 75.47.Lx