RESUMO
We use neutron scattering to demonstrate the presence of lattice polarons and their short-range correlations for several samples of La1-xCaxMnO3 in the Ca doping range 0.15=x=0.3. We establish the doping dependence of the orientation, commensuration, and coherence length of the polaron correlations and show that the populations of correlated and uncorrelated polarons are intimately related to the transport properties of the materials.
RESUMO
Ferromagnetic (FM) spin fluctuations are believed to mediate the spin-triplet pairing for the p-wave superconductivity in Sr(2)RuO(4). Our experiments show that, at the surface, a bulk soft-phonon mode freezes into a static lattice distortion associated with an in-plane rotation of the RuO(6) octahedron. First-principle calculations confirm this structure and predict a FM ground state at the surface. This coupling between structure and magnetism in the environment of broken symmetry at the surface allows a reconsideration of the coupling mechanism in the bulk.
RESUMO
Symmetry, dimensionality, and disorder play a pivotal role in critical phenomena. The atomic imaging capabilities of the scanning tunneling microscope were used to directly visualize the interaction between charge density oscillations and lattice defects in a two-dimensional charge density wave (CDW) system. Point defects act as nucleation centers of the CDW, which, as the temperature is lowered, results in the formation of pinned CDW domains that are separated by atomically abrupt charge boundaries. Incomplete freezing of substitutional disorder at low temperature indicates a novel CDW-mediated hopping of pinning centers.
RESUMO
Large-amplitude electron density oscillations were observed on a Be(0001) surface by means of variable-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy. Fourier transforms of the images showed a ring of radius 2kF, where kF is the Fermi wave vector of the Be(0001) surface state. This wavelength was expected from Friedel oscillations caused by electronic screening of surface defects, but the amplitude of the waves for energies near the Fermi energy was anomalously large and inconsistent with the Friedel concept of screening. The enhanced amplitude of the waves must be a many-body effect, either in the electron gas (possibly an incipient charge density wave) or in the response of the lattice (electron-phonon coupling).