Local Metallic and Structural Properties of the Strongly Correlated Metal LaNiO\(_{3}\) using \(^{8}\)Li \(\beta\)-NMR

• Published in: arXiv.org 2019-06
• Main Authors: Karner, Victoria L, Chatzichristos, Aris, Cortie, David L, Dehn, Martin H, Foyevtsov, Oleksandr, Foyevtsova, Kateryna, Fujimoto, Derek, Kiefl, Robert F, Levy, C D Philip, Li, Ruohong, McFadden, Ryan M L, Morris, Gerald D, Pearson, Matthew R, Stachura, Monika, Ticknor, John O, Cristiani, Georg, Logvenov, Gennady, Wrobel, Friedrike, Keimer, Bernhard, Zhang, Junjie, Mitchell, John F, MacFarlane, W Andrew
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antiferromagnetism; Magnetic transitions; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Single crystals; Spin-lattice relaxation; Thin films
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1906.07878

We report \(\beta\)-detected NMR of ion-implanted \(^{8}\)Li in a single crystal and thin film of the strongly correlated metal LaNiO\(_{3}\). In both samples, spin-lattice relaxation measurements reveal two distinct local metallic environments, as is evident from \(T\)-linear Korringa \(1/T_{1}\) below 200 K with slopes comparable to other metals. A small, approximately temperature independent Knight shift of \(\sim 74\) ppm is observed, yielding a normalized Korringa product characteristic of substantial antiferromagnetic correlations, but, we find no evidence for a magnetic transition from 4 to 310 K. Two distinct, equally abundant \(^{8}\)Li sites is inconsistent with the widely accepted rhombohedral structure of LaNiO\(_{3}\), but cannot be simply explained by either of the common alternative orthorhombic or monoclinic distortions.