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The spin state transition in LaCoO3; revising a revision

M. W. Haverkort, Z. Hu, J. C. Cezar, T. Burnus, H. Hartmann, M. Reuther, C. Zobel, T. Lorenz, A. Tanaka, N. B. Brookes, H. H. Hsieh, H. -J. Lin, C. T. Chen, L. H. Tjeng

cond-mat.str-elarXiv:cond-mat/0610457

Abstract

Using soft x-ray absorption spectroscopy and magnetic circular dichroism at the Co-L2,3 edge we reveal that the spin state transition in LaCoO3 can be well described by a low-spin ground state and a triply-degenerate high-spin first excited state. From the temperature dependence of the spectral lineshapes we find that LaCoO3 at finite temperatures is an inhomogeneous mixed-spin-state system. Crucial is that the magnetic circular dichroism signal in the paramagnetic state carries a large orbital momentum. This directly shows that the currently accepted low-/intermediate-spin picture is at variance. Parameters derived from these spectroscopies fully explain existing magnetic susceptibility, electron spin resonance and inelastic neutron data.

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