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Soft X‐Ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism of Vanadium in the Metal–Insulator Two‐Phase Region of Paramagnetic V 2 O 3 Doped with 1.1% Chromium
Author(s) -
Schmitz Detlef,
Schmitz-Antoniak Carolin,
Radu Florin,
Ryll Hanjo,
Luo Chen,
Bhandary Sumanta,
Biermann Silke,
Siemensmeyer Konrad,
Wende Heiko,
Ivanov Sergey,
Eriksson Olle
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
physica status solidi (b)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1521-3951
pISSN - 0370-1972
DOI - 10.1002/pssb.201900456
Subject(s) - magnetic circular dichroism , paramagnetism , magnetic moment , condensed matter physics , x ray magnetic circular dichroism , vanadium , materials science , metal–insulator transition , chemistry , nuclear magnetic resonance , metal , spectral line , physics , inorganic chemistry , astronomy , metallurgy
V 2 O 3 doped with 1.1% Cr is investigated at its isostructural correlation‐driven metal–insulator transition near room temperature in its paramagnetic state with X‐ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) spectroscopy in external magnetic fields. A relative XMCD amplitude of about 2 permille is observed at the L 2,3 absorption edges of vanadium as expected for magnetic moment per mass values of the order of 1 J T −1 kg −1 from magnetometry and the literature. Across the metal–insulator transition, the vanadium XMCD spectral shape significantly changes. According to atomic multiplet simulations, these changes are due to a changing orbital occupation indicating a changing phase composition. According to estimates used in this study, the dipole moment of the spin density distribution 7 ⟨ T z ⟩in the bulk increases such that the effective vanadium spin moment increases by a few percent with temperature in the two‐phase region. Thereby, it partially compensates for the decrease in the relative XMCD amplitude due to a decreasing alignment of the paramagnetic moments. After a few minor temperature cycles, the sample is in a two‐phase state in which the XMCD and X‐ray linear dichroism spectra hardly depend on the temperature, and the specific electrical resistance is intermediate, showing only a weak sign of the metal–insulator transition.