Orbital Bi-Stripes in High Doped Bilayer Manganites

Abstract

We present high resolution high energy and resonant x-ray diffraction results from La2-2xSr1+2xMn2O7 for x=0.55,0.575 and 0.60. These compounds show superlattice reflections at wavevectors of (h+-\delta,k+-\delta,l) and (h+-2\delta,k+-2\delta,l), arising from orbital ordering with associated Jahn-Teller distortions and charge ordering respectively. We observe a phase transition between the x=0.55 and x=0.575 doping levels. Samples with x=0.55 display structural characteristics similar to those previously reported for x=0.5. Compared to this, the long range order in samples with x=0.55 and x=0.6 have a distinct change in wavevector and correlation. We attribute this to a new orbital bi-stripe phase, accompanied by weak, frustrated, charge ordering. The observed azimuthal dependence of the orbital order reflections supports the model proposed for this new phase.