Comment on ``Off-stoichiometry mechanism of the isotope effect in manganites''

Abstract

In a recent paper, Nagaev cited the unpublished paper by Franck et al.to support his theoretical model for the mechanism of the giant isotope effect observed in La_{1-x}Ca_{x}MnO_{3+y} (x = 0.20, y > 0). His model suggests that the off-stoichiometric oxygen content depends strongly on the oxygen isotope mass, which leads to a giant oxygen-isotope effect. Here I show that his theoretical model is not consistent with any experimental results (even the results recently published by Franck et al.), and his estimate of polaronic bandwidth is wrong due to his misuse of polaronic theories.