Possible Bose-Einstein condensate associated with an orbital degree of freedom in the Mott insulator CaCr O3

J. S. Zhou, L. P. Cao, J. A. Alonso, J. Sanchez-Benitez, M. T. Fernandez-Diaz, X. Li, J. G. Cheng, L. G. Marshall, C. Q. Jin, J. B. Goodenough

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Abstract

Whether CaCrO3 is a Mott insulator or a correlated metal is still controversial. We have performed measurements of magnetization, specific heat, and thermal conductivity on CaCrO3 samples selected from many batches of high-pressure synthesis. The single-crystal CaCrO3 sample exhibits an unprecedentedly sharp transition at a Néel temperature TN≈90K. The critical behavior of specific heat cannot be rationalized by the renormalization group theory for a second-order magnetic transition. More surprisingly, the thermal conductivity κ exhibits an anomalous drop on cooling through TN, which is opposite to all known influence on κ from either spin or orbital ordering. We have argued, on the basis of anomalies found in all three measurements and structural data, for the coexistence of itinerant π-bonding electrons in a c-axis band and localized xy electrons in xy orbitals responsible for type-C antiferromagnetic order below TN and the occupation of a pure, localized xy orbital undergoing a Bose-Einstein condensate at TN.

Original languageEnglish
Article number155137
JournalPhysical Review B
Volume94
Issue number15
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21 Oct 2016
Externally publishedYes

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Zhou, J. S., Cao, L. P., Alonso, J. A., Sanchez-Benitez, J., Fernandez-Diaz, M. T., Li, X., Cheng, J. G., Marshall, L. G., Jin, C. Q., & Goodenough, J. B. (2016). Possible Bose-Einstein condensate associated with an orbital degree of freedom in the Mott insulator CaCr O3. Physical Review B, 94(15), Article 155137. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.94.155137