Giant isotope effect and spin state transition induced by oxygen isotope exchange in (
arXiv:cond-mat/0603738 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.74.165113
Abstract
We systematically investigate effect of oxygen isotope in which shows a crossover with x from ferromagnetic metal to the insulator with spin-state transition. A striking feature is that effect of oxygen isotope on the ferromagnetic transition is negligible in the metallic phase, while replacing with leads to a giant up-shift of the spin-state transition temperature () in the insulating phase, especially shifts from 36 to 54 K with isotope component for the sample with x=0.175. A metal-insulator transition is induced by oxygen isotope exchange in the sample x=0.172 being close to the insulating phase. The contrasting behaviors observed in the two phases can be well explained by occurrence of static Jahn-Teller distortions in the insulating phase, while absence of them in the metallic phase.
4 pages, 5 figures