Orbital Correlations in the Ferromagnetic Half-Metal $CrO_{2}

Abstract

We deduce a model relevant for the description of the ferromagnetic half-metal Chromium dioxide ($CrO_{2}$), widely used in magnetic recording technology. The model describes the effect of dynamical, local orbital correlations arising from local quantum chemistry of the material. A finite temperature solution of the model in $d=\infty$ provides a natural explanation of the optical response, photoemission, resistivity and the large Woods-Saxon ratio observed in experiments. Our study confirms the important role of many body dynamical correlation effects for a proper understanding of the metallic phase of $CrO_{2}$.