Current-driven orbital order-disorder transition in LaMnO3

TL;DR

This study investigates how electric current affects the orbital order-disorder transition in LaMnO3, revealing that increasing current density lowers transition temperature and latent heat, broadens the transition zone, and stabilizes different states.

Contribution

It demonstrates the significant influence of electric current on the orbital transition in LaMnO3, including the suppression of latent heat and broadening of the transition zone, which was not previously understood.

Findings

Transition temperature decreases with current density.

Latent heat reaches zero at a critical current density.

Transition zone broadens with increasing current density.

Abstract

We report significant influence of electric current on the orbital order-disorder transition in LaMnO3. The transition temperature T_OO, thermal hysteresis in the resistivity (rho) versus temperature (T) plot around T_OO, and latent heat L associated with the transition decrease with the increase in current density. Eventually, at a critical current density, L reaches zero. The transition zone, on the other hand, broadens with the increase in current density. The states at ordered, disordered, and transition zone are all found to be stable within the time window from ~10^-3 to ~10^4 seconds.