Local metallic and structural properties of the strongly correlated metal LaNiO3 using 8Li β–NMR

We report β-detected NMR of ion-implanted Li8 in a single crystal and thin film of the strongly correlated metal LaNiO3. Spin-lattice relaxation measurements reveal two distinct local environments, both metallic as evident from T-linear Korringa 1/T1 below 200K with slopes comparable to other metals. A small approximately temperature-independent Knight shift of ∼74ppm is observed, yielding a normalized Korringa product characteristic of substantial antiferromagnetic correlations. We find no evidence for a magnetic transition from 4 to 310K. The similarity of these features in the two very different samples indicates that they are intrinsic and unrelated to dilute oxygen vacancies. We attribute the two environments to two distinct but similar crystallographic Li8 sites and not to any form of phase inhomogeneity, but this is inconsistent with the conventional rhombohedral structure of LaNiO3, and also cannot be simply explained by the common alternative orthorhombic or monoclinic distortions. ©2024 American Physical Society.

Keywords

Monocrystals, Thin Films, Antiferromagnetism, Metals, Crystallography, Lithium, Ion implantation, Crystals

Citation

Karner, V. L., Chatzichristos, A., Cortie, D. L., Dehn, M. H., Foyevtsov, O., Foyevtsova, K., Fujimoto, D., Kiefl, R. F., Levy, C. D. P., Li, R., McFadden, R. M. L., Morris, G. D., Pearson, M. R., Stachura, M., Ticknor, J. O., Cristiani, G., Logvenov, G., Wrobel, F., Keimer, B., Zhang, J., Mitchell, J. F., & MacFarlane, W. A. (2019). Local metallic and structural properties of the strongly correlated metal LaNiO3using 8Li beta--NMR. Physical Review B, 100(16), 165109. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.100.165109