Orbital polarons and ferromagnetic insulators in manganites

Abstract

We argue that in lightly hole doped perovskite-type Mn oxides the holes (Mn$^{4+}$ sites) are surrounded by nearest neighbor Mn$^{3+}$ sites in which the occupied $3d$ orbitals have their lobes directed towards the central hole (Mn$^{4+}$) site and with spins coupled ferromagnetically to the central spin. This composite object, which can be viewed as a combined orbital-spin-lattice polaron, is accompanied by the breathing type (Mn$^{4+}$) and Jahn-Teller type (Mn$^{3+}$) local lattice distortions. We present calculations which indicate that for certain doping levels these orbital polarons may crystallize into a charge and orbitally ordered ferromagnetic insulating state.