Letter abstract


Nature Materials 5, 937 - 941 (2006)
Published online: 5 November 2006 | doi:10.1038/nmat1773

Subject Categories: Ceramics | Electronic materials | Magnetic materials

Rotation of orbital stripes and the consequent charge-polarized state in bilayer manganites

Yusuke Tokunaga1, Thomas Lottermoser1,6, Yunsang Lee1,7, Reiji Kumai2, Masaya Uchida1, Takahisa Arima1,3 & Yoshinori Tokura1,2,4,5

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Nanoscale self-organization of electrons is ubiquitously observed in correlated electron systems such as complex oxides of transition metals. The phenomenon of charge ordering (CO) or the formation of charge stripes, as observed for layered-structure cuprates1 and nickelates2, is one such example. Among them, CO in manganites is closely tied to the orbital degree of freedom of 3d electrons, leading to staggered orbital ordering or the formation of orbital stripes in the layered structure3, 4. Here, we describe the phenomena of thermally induced rotation of the orbital stripes by 90° for bilayered manganite crystals with half hole doping, that is, a 1:1 ratio of Mn3+/Mn4+. The rotation of orbital stripes and the consequent CO coupled with the underlying lattice distortion were found to produce the charge-polarized state, as also shown by its optical second-harmonic generation activity.

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  1. Spin Superstructure Project, ERATO, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8562, Japan
  2. Correlated Electron Research Center (CERC), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8562, Japan
  3. Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan
  4. Department of Applied Physics, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan
  5. Multiferroics Project, ERATO, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8562, Japan
  6. Present address: HISKP, University of Bonn, Nussalle 14-16, 53115 Bonn, Germany
  7. Present address: Department of Physics, Soongsil University, Seoul 156-743, Korea

Correspondence to: Yusuke Tokunaga1 e-mail: yusuke-tokunaga@aist.go.jp

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