In this dissertation, we have investigated the electronic structures and spin configurations of rare-earth/transition metal oxdes and Ru-based perovskite oxides by employing soft X-ray synchrotron radiation spectroscopies. Rare-earth/transition metal...
In this dissertation, we have investigated the electronic structures and spin configurations of rare-earth/transition metal oxdes and Ru-based perovskite oxides by employing soft X-ray synchrotron radiation spectroscopies. Rare-earth/transition metal oxides and ABO3-type perovskite oxides exhibit diverse magnetic states and interesting physical properties, such as ferromagnetism (FM), spin-glass (SG), and/or cluster-glass (CG) states, the metal-insulator (MI) transition, the magnetic phase transitions, and enhanced magnetoresistance. In addition, they are considered to have the potential to be used as the high efficiency of solar cell.
We have investigated the electronic structures of multiferroic RFe2O4 (R=Er, Tm, Lu) by employing soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and soft X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) at the Fe 2p and R 3d absorption edges. It is found that the valence states of Fe and R ions are nearly Fe2.5+ and R3+, respectively, and that the net magnetic moments of Fe2+ and Fe3+ ions are antiparallel to each other. Both R 3d and O 1s XAS spectra indicate that the localized R 4f states are not sensitive to the crystal electric field, implying that they do not contribute directly to the magnetoelectricity of RFe2O4. On the other hand, the T-dependent structural differences among RFe2O4 for different R ions are closely related to their T-dependent magnetic properties. So they are expected to affect the possible magnetoelectricity of RFe2O4 at low temperature.
We have investigated the electronic structures of Ru-based perovskite oxides SrRuxMn1-xO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) by employing XAS and XMCD at the Mn 2p and Ru 3p absorption edges. Both Mn and Ru ions are found to be nearly tetravalent (Mn4+, Ru4+) for the end members of x = 0 (SrMnO3) and x = 1 (SrRuO3). In the intermediate substitution regime, Mn and Ru ions are in the inhomogeneously mixed-valent states, having the Mn3+−Mn4+ (x < 0.5) and Ru4+−Ru5+ (x > 0.5) configurations, respectively. In the Ru-dilute concentration (x ≲ 0.2), Ru4+ ions become Ru5+, which then transform the neighboring Mn4+ ions to Mn3+ ions via the expected electron charge transfer from Ru4+ to Mn4+. Finite Mn 2p XMCD signals are observed for x > 0 with the maximum intensity at x=0.5. On the other hand, the Ru 3p XMCD signals are almost negligible for x ≤ 0.8. This trend is consistent with the FM ground state for x ≥ 0.8 and the CG and/or SG ground states for 0.5 ≤ x ≤ 0.7. The unoccupied Mn 3d and Ru 4d states have been determined from the measured O 1s XAS spectra and the calculated PDOSs, which are found to support the above findings on the valence states of Mn and Ru ions in SrRuxMn1-xO3. The comparison of the O 1s XAS spectra with the calculated PDOSs shows that the Mn 3d electrons are in the high-spin states, while the Ru 4d electrons are in the low-spin states.
We have investigated the electronic structures of Ir-substituted SrRu1-xIrxO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) perovskite oxides by employing XAS, XLD and XMCD. Ru ions are nearly tetravalent (Ru4+) for all x. Finite Ru 3p XMCD signals are observed for x ≤ 0.1. We have determined the unoccupied Ru 4d and Ir 5d states, as well as the orbital ordering of the Ru 4d and Ir 5d states from the O 1s XLD measurement. Based on the O 1s XLD, the uppermost occupied states near the Fermi level are found to be Ru 4d dxy ↓ and Ir 5d Jeff=1/2↑ orbitals.
We have investigated the electronic structures of hexagonal HoMnO3+δ (δ = 0 ~ 0.4) by employing XAS and XMCD. As the amount of the oxygen excess(δ) increases from δ=0 to δ=0.4, The valence states of Mn ions are found to change from Mn3+ to Mn4+. For δ > 0, finite XMCD signals are observed for both Mn 2p and Ho 3d states, where the signs of the XMCD signals are parallel to each other. These XMCD results for HoMnO3+δ reveal that the ferromagnetic property in RMnO3+δ can be enhanced via the control of the amount of the oxygen excess in RMnO3+δ.