Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering study of doping and temperature dependence of low-energy excitations in La\(_{1-x}\)Sr\(_x\)VO\(_3\)

• Published in: arXiv.org 2021-05
• Main Authors: Ruotsalainen, Kari, Gatti, Matteo, Ablett, James M, Yakhou-Harris, Flora, Jean-Pascal Rueff, Adrian, David, Prellier, Wilfrid, Nicolaou, Alessandro
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antiferromagnetism; Crystal field theory; Doping; Electronic structure; Excitation; Inelastic scattering; Insulators; Low temperature; Metal-insulator transition; Phonons; Room temperature; Strontium; Temperature dependence; X-ray scattering
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2004.11200

We present a temperature and doping dependent resonant inelastic X-ray scattering experiment at the V L\(_{2,3}\) and O K edges in La\(_{1-x}\)Sr\(_x\)VO\(_3\) for \(x=0\) and \(x=0.1\). This material is a canonical example of a compound that exhibits a filling control metal-insulator transition and undergoes orbital ordering and antiferromagnetic transitions at low temperature. Temperature dependent measurements at the V L\(_{3}\) edge reveal an intra-t\(_{2g}\) excitation that blueshifts by 40 meV from room temperature to 30 K at a rate that differs between the para- and antiferromagnetic phases. The lineshape can be partially explained by a purely local model using crystal field theory calculations. At \(x=0.1\) the doping is shown to affect the local electronic structure primarily on the O sites, which is in disagreement with a simple Mott-Hubbard picture. We reveal the presence of phonon overtone features at the O K edge, which evidences that the low energy part of the spectrum is dominated by phonon response.