Electrical Noise From Phase Separation In Pr2/3Ca1/3MnO3 Single Crystal

Low frequency electrical noise measurements have been used to probe the electronic state of the perovskite-type manganese oxide Pr2/3Ca1/3MnO3 versus temperature and in the vicinity of the field-induced transition from the insulating, charge-ordered state (I-CO) to the metallic, ferromagnetic state (M-F). At high temperature we have observed a high level of the excess noise with mainly a gaussian distribution of the resistance fluctuations, and the associated power spectral density has a standard 1/f dependence. However, in the hysteretic region, where the electrical resistance depends dramatically on the sample history, we have observed a huge non-gaussian noise characterized by two level fluctuator-like switching (TLS) in the time domain. We discuss the origin of the noise in terms of percolative behavior of the conductivity. We speculate that the dominant fluctuators are manganese clusters switching between the M-F and the I-CO phases.Comment: RevTeX, 6 pages with 3 figure

Orbiton-mediated multi-phonon scattering in La1−x_{1-x}Srx_xMnO3_3

We report on Raman scattering measurements of single crystalline La$_{1-x}$Sr$_x$MnO$_3$ ($x$=0, 0.06, 0.09 and 0.125), focusing on the high frequency regime. We observe multi-phonon scattering processes up to fourth-order which show distinct features: (i) anomalies in peak energy and its relative intensity and (ii) a pronounced temperature-, polarization-, and doping-dependence. These features suggest a mixed orbiton-phonon nature of the observed multi-phonon Raman spectra.Comment: 6pages, 6figures, submitted to PR

Pressure-induced melting of the orbital polaron lattice in La1-xSrxMnO3

We report on the pressure effects on the orbital polaron lattice in the lightly doped manganites $\mathrm{La_{1-x}Sr_xMnO_{3}}$, with $x\sim 1/8$. The dependence of the orbital polaron lattice on $negative$ chemical pressure is studied by substituting Pr for La in $\mathrm{(La_{1-y}Pr_y)_{7/8}Sr_{1/8}MnO_{3}}$. In addition, we have studied its hydrostatic pressure dependence in $\mathrm{(La_{0.9}Pr_{0.1})_{7/8}Sr_{1/8}MnO_{3}}$. Our results strongly indicate that the hopping $t$ significantly contributes to the stabilization of the orbital polaron lattice and that the orbital polarons are ferromagnetic objects which get stabilized by local double exchange processes. The analysis of short range orbital correlations and the verification of the Grueneisen scaling by hard x-ray, specific heat and thermal expansion data reinforces our conclusions.Comment: 7 figure

Lattice and spin excitations in multiferroic h-YMnO3

We used Raman and terahertz spectroscopies to investigate lattice and magnetic excitations and their cross-coupling in the hexagonal YMnO3 multiferroic. Two phonon modes are strongly affected by the magnetic order. Magnon excitations have been identified thanks to comparison with neutron measurements and spin wave calculations but no electromagnon has been observed. In addition, we evidenced two additional Raman active peaks. We have compared this observation with the anti-crossing between magnon and acoustic phonon branches measured by neutron. These optical measurements underly the unusual strong spin-phonon coupling

Radiation hardening of Rare-Earth doped fiber amplifiers

We investigated the radiation hardening of optical fiber amplifiers operating in space environments. Through a real-time analysis in active configuration, we evaluated the role of Ce in the improvement of the amplifier performance against ionizing radiations. Ce-codoping is an efficient hardening solution, acting both in the limitation of defects in the host glass matrix of RE-doped optical fibers and in the stabilization of lasing properties of the Er3+-ions. On the one hand, in the nearinfrared region, radiation induced attenuation measurements show the absence of radiation induced P-related defect species in host glass matrix of the Ce-codoped active fibers; on the other hand, in the Ce-free fiber, the higher lifetime variation shows stronger local modifications around the Er3+-ions with the absence of Ce

Existence of orbital polarons in ferromagnetic insulating La1−x_{1-x}Srx_xMnO3_{3} (0.11<x<<x<0.14) evidenced by giant phonon softening

We present an inelastic light scattering study of single crystalline (La$_{1-y}$Pr$_y$)$_{1-x}$Sr$_{x}$MnO$_3$ ($0\leq x\leq0.14$,$y=0$ and $x=1/8$,$0\leq y\leq0.5$). A giant softening up to 20 - 30 cm$^{-1}$ of the Mn-O breathing mode has been observed only for the ferromagnetic insulating (FMI) samples ($0.11\leq x \leq 0.14$) upon cooling below the Curie temperature. With increasing Pr-doping the giant softening is gradually suppressed. This is attributed to a coupling of the breathing mode to orbital polarons which are present in the FMI phase.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Radiation hardening techniques for rare-earth based optical fibers and amplifiers

Er/Yb doped fibers and amplifiers have been shown to be very radiation sensitive, limiting their integration in space. We present an approach including successive hardening techniques to enhance their radiation tolerance. The efficiency of our approach is demonstrated by comparing the radiation responses of optical amplifiers made with same lengths of different rare-earth doped fibers and exposed to gamma-rays. Previous studies indicated that such amplifiers suffered significant degradation for doses exceeding 10 krad. Applying our techniques significantly enhances the amplifier radiation resistance, resulting in a very limited degradation up to 50 krad. Our optimization techniques concern the fiber composition, some possible pre-treatments and the interest of simulation tools used to harden by design the amplifiers. We showed that adding cerium inside the fiber phosphosilicate-based core strongly decreases the fiber radiation sensitivity compared to the standard fiber. For both fibers, a pre-treatment with hydrogen permits to enhance again the fiber resistance. Furthermore, simulations tools can also be used to improve the tolerance of the fiber amplifier by helping identifying the best amplifier configuration for operation in the radiative environment

Transport and superconducting properties of Fe-based superconductors: SmFeAs(O1-x Fx) versus Fe1+y (Te1-x, Sex)

We present transport and superconducting properties - namely resistivity, magnetoresistivity, Hall effect, Seebeck effect, thermal conductivity, upper critical field - of two different families of Fe-based superconductors, which can be viewed in many respects as end members: SmFeAs(O1-xFx) with the largest Tc and the largest anisotropy and Fe1+y(Te1-x,Sex), with the largest Hc2, the lowest Tc and the lowest anisotropy. In the case of the SmFeAs(O1-xFx) series, we find that a single band description allows to extract an approximated estimation of band parameters such as carrier density and mobility from experimental data, although the behaviour of Seebeck effect as a function of doping demonstrates that a multiband description would be more appropriate. On the contrary, experimental data of the Fe1+y(Te1-x,Sex) series exhibit a strongly compensated behaviour, which can be described only within a multiband model. In the Fe1+y(Te1-x,Sex) series, the role of the excess Fe, tuned by Se stoichiometry, is found to be twofold: it dopes electrons in the system and it introduces localized magnetic moments, responsible for Kondo like scattering and likely pair-breaking of Cooper pairs. Hence, excess Fe plays a crucial role also in determining superconducting properties such as the Tc and the upper critical field Bc2. The huge Bc2 values of the Fe1+y(Te1-x,Sex) samples are described by a dirty limit law, opposed to the clean limit behaviour of the SmFeAs(O1-xFx) samples. Hence, magnetic scattering by excess Fe seems to drive the system in the dirty regime, but its detrimental pairbreaking role seems not to be as severe as predicted by theory. This issue has yet to be clarified, addressing the more fundamental issue of the interplay between magnetism and superconductivity

Epitaxy and magnetotransport of Sr_2FeMoO_6 thin films

By pulsed-laser deposition epitaxial thin films of Sr_2FeMoO_6 have been pre- pared on (100) SrTiO_3 substrates. Already for a deposition temperature of 320 C epitaxial growth is achieved. Depending on deposition parameters the films show metallic or semiconducting behavior. At high (low) deposition temperature the Fe,Mo sublattice has a rock-salt (random) structure. The metallic samples have a large negative magnetoresistance which peaks at the Curie temperature. The magnetic moment was determined to 4 mu_B per formula unit (f.u.), in agreement with the expected value for an ideal ferrimagnetic arrangement. We found an ordinary Hall coefficient of -6.01x10^{-10} m^3/As at 300 K, corresponding to an electronlike charge-carrier density of 1.3 per Fe,Mo-pair. In the semiconducting films the magnetic moment is reduced to 1 mu_B/f.u. due to disorder in the Fe,Mo sublattice. In low fields an anomalous holelike contribution dominates the Hall voltage, which vanishes at low temperatures for the metallic films only.Comment: Institute of Physics, University of Mainz, Germany, 4 pages, including 5 pictures and 1 Table, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Optical study of orbital excitations in transition-metal oxides

The orbital excitations of a series of transition-metal compounds are studied by means of optical spectroscopy. Our aim was to identify signatures of collective orbital excitations by comparison with experimental and theoretical results for predominantly local crystal-field excitations. To this end, we have studied TiOCl, RTiO3 (R=La, Sm, Y), LaMnO3, Y2BaNiO5, CaCu2O3, and K4Cu4OCl10, ranging from early to late transition-metal ions, from t_2g to e_g systems, and including systems in which the exchange coupling is predominantly three-dimensional, one-dimensional or zero-dimensional. With the exception of LaMnO3, we find orbital excitations in all compounds. We discuss the competition between orbital fluctuations (for dominant exchange coupling) and crystal-field splitting (for dominant coupling to the lattice). Comparison of our experimental results with configuration-interaction cluster calculations in general yield good agreement, demonstrating that the coupling to the lattice is important for a quantitative description of the orbital excitations in these compounds. However, detailed theoretical predictions for the contribution of collective orbital modes to the optical conductivity (e.g., the line shape or the polarization dependence) are required to decide on a possible contribution of orbital fluctuations at low energies, in particular in case of the orbital excitations at about 0.25 eV in RTiO3. Further calculations are called for which take into account the exchange interactions between the orbitals and the coupling to the lattice on an equal footing.Comment: published version, discussion of TiOCl extended to low T, improved calculation of orbital excitation energies in TiOCl, figure 16 improved, references updated, 33 pages, 20 figure