Effect of copper doping on charge ordering in La1/3Ca2/3Mn1 − y Cu y O3 (0 ≤ y ≤ 0.07)

Abstract

The effect of copper doping on charge-orbital ordering in La1/3Ca2/3Mn1 − yCuyO3 (0 ≤ y ≤ 0.07) is studied by measuring the temperature dependences of the magnetization, the electrical resistivity, and the heat capacity in combination with an electron microscopic investigation of the structure. It is demonstrated that copper doping leads to a lowering of the charge ordering temperature TCO and that this decrease is proportional to the decrease in the Mn3+ ion concentration. In the temperature range 5–300 K, the semiconducting pattern of the electrical resistivity persists for all values of 0 ≤ y ≤ 0.07. Electron microscope studies have shown that the presence of copper suppresses the formation of a regular superstructure, which is characteristic of the undoped starting compound, beginning already from low concentrations (y = 0.01). Differential scanning calorimetry revealed a substantial decrease in the transition entropy at the onset of charge ordering in copper-doped samples as compared to the starting compound. Doping with copper destroys long-range charge-orbital ordering and retains apparently only short-range order.