paper

Infinite Layer LaNiO(2): Ni(1+)is not Cu(2+)

arXiv:cond-mat/0405570 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.70.165109

Abstract

The Ni ion in LaNiO has the same formal ionic configuration as does Cu in isostructural CaCuO, but it is reported to be nonmagnetic and probably metallic whereas CaCuO is a magnetic insulator. From ab initio calculations we trace its individualistic behavior to (1) reduced mixing due to an increase of the separation of site energies () of at least 2 eV, and (2) important Ni mixing with La states that leads to Fermi surface pockets of La character that hole-dope the Ni 3d band.Correlation effects do not appear to be large in LaNiO. However, ad hoc increase of the intraatomic repulsion on the Ni site (using the LDA+U method) is found to lead to a novel correlated state: (i) the transition metal and states undergo consecutive Mott transitions, (ii) their moments are antialigned leading (ideally) to a "singlet" ion in which there are two polarized orbitals, and (iii) mixing of the upper Hubbard band with the La states leaves considerable transition metal 3d character in a band pinned to the Fermi level. The magnetic configuration is more indicative of a Ni ion in this limit, although the actual charge changes little with U.

7 pages, 8 figures

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