Reentrant Structural Transitions and Collapse of Charge and Orbital Orders in Quadruple Perovskites

Abstract

Charge and orbital degrees of freedom determine properties of many materials, and are central to many important phenomena. At high temperatures, thermal fluctuations overcome them, and high-symmetry structures are realized. On decreasing temperature, different charge- and orbital-order transitions take place accompanied by symmetry lowering. Remarkable exceptions to this general tendency, realized in Cu-doped BiMn₇ O₁₂ quadruple perovskites, are presented. Introduction of Cu²⁺ produces mixtures of Mn³⁺ and Mn⁴⁺ and charge degree of freedom. BiCuMn₆ O₁₂ (and compositions in the vicinity) exhibits well-defined 1:3 charge order of Mn⁴⁺ and Mn³⁺ and orbital order of Mn³⁺ near room temperature, but both charge and orbital orders collapse below about 115 K with the reentrance of the high-temperature cubic Im3‾ phase. What is interesting the collapse can be controlled by a magnetic field even without long-range magnetic order, and the collapsed phase shows nearly zero thermal expansion.

Keywords: high-pressure chemistry; materials science; perovskite phases; reentrant structural transitions.