Double-exchange via degenerate orbitals

TL;DR

This paper investigates how orbital degeneracy affects magnetic structures in doped manganites, revealing that it leads to anisotropic magnetic phases like layered and chain-like structures, explaining experimental observations.

Contribution

It introduces a model considering degenerate $e_g$ orbitals in double-exchange systems, showing how orbital degeneracy stabilizes specific magnetic structures depending on doping.

Findings

Orbital degeneracy causes anisotropic magnetic structures.

Layered A-type and chain-like C-type phases are stabilized.

The phase diagram explains experimental magnetic phases in over-doped manganites.

Abstract

We consider the double-exchange for systems in which doped electrons occupy degenerate orbitals, treating the realistic situation with double degenerate $e_g$ orbitals. We show that the orbital degeneracy leads in general to formation of anisotropic magnetic structures and that in particular, depending on the doping concentration, the layered magnetic structures of the A-type and chain-like structures of the C-type are stabilized. The phase-diagram that we obtain provides an explanation for the experimentally observed magnetic structures of some over-doped (electron-doped) manganites of the type Nd$_{1-x}$Sr$_x$MnO$_3$, Pr$_{1-x}$Sr$_x$MnO$_3$ and Sm$_{1-x}$Ca$_x$MnO$_3$ with $x > 0.5$.