Direct measurement of the low-temperature spin-state transition in LaCoO3

LaCoO3 exhibits an anomaly in its magnetic susceptibility around 80 K associated with a thermally excited transition of the Co3+-ion spin. We show that electron energy-loss spectroscopy is sensitive to this Co3+-ion spin-state transition, and that the O K edge prepeak provides a direct measure of th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysical review letters Vol. 99; no. 4; p. 047203
Main Authors Klie, R F, Zheng, J C, Zhu, Y, Varela, M, Wu, J, Leighton, C
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 27.07.2007
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Summary:LaCoO3 exhibits an anomaly in its magnetic susceptibility around 80 K associated with a thermally excited transition of the Co3+-ion spin. We show that electron energy-loss spectroscopy is sensitive to this Co3+-ion spin-state transition, and that the O K edge prepeak provides a direct measure of the Co3+ spin state in LaCoO3 as a function of temperature. Our experimental results are confirmed by first-principles calculations, and we conclude that the thermally excited spin-state transition occurs from a low to an intermediate spin state, which can be distinguished from the high-spin state.
ISSN:1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.047203