Roland Bastardis

Universal Theoretical Approach to Extract Anisotropic Spin Hamiltonians

Monometallic Ni(II) and Co(II) complexes with large magnetic anisotropy are studied using correlated wave function based ab initio calculations. Based on the effective Hamiltonian theory, we propose a scheme to extract both the parameters of the zero-field splitting (ZFS) tensor and the magnetic anisotropy axes. Contrarily to the usual theoretical procedure of extraction, the method presented here determines the sign and the magnitude of the ZFS parameters in any circumstances. While the energy levels provide enough information to extract the ZFS parameters in Ni(II) complexes, additional information contained in the wave functions must be used to extract the ZFS parameters of Co(II) complexes. The effective Hamiltonian procedure also enables us to confirm the validity of the standard model Hamiltonian to produce the magnetic anisotropy of monometallic complexes. The calculated ZFS parameters are in good agreement with high-field, high-frequency electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy and frequency domain magnetic resonance spectroscopy data. A methodological analysis of the results shows that the ligand-to-metal charge transfer configurations must be introduced in the reference space to obtain quantitative agreement with the experimental estimates of the ZFS parameters.

Isotropic non-Heisenberg terms in the magnetic coupling of transition metal complexes

This paper analyzes the different contributions to the magnetic coupling in systems with more than one unpaired electron per center. While in S=12 spin systems the Heisenberg Hamiltonian involving only bilinear exchange interactions is reliable for the description of the magnetic states, biquadratic exchange interactions must be sometimes introduced for S=1 (or higher) spin systems to account for isotropic deviations to Heisenberg behavior. The analysis establishes that the excited atomic states, the so-called non-Hund states, are responsible for the main contribution to the deviations. The kinetic exchange contribution and the spin, hole, and particle polarizations increase the magnetic coupling but essentially maintain the Heisenberg pattern. The importance of the different contributions has been studied for a series of Ni(2) compounds with a polarizable double azido bridge. The coupling between two Fe(3+) ions in the molecular crystal Na(3)FeS(3), which is known experimentally to present large deviations to Heisenberg behavior, has also been investigated.

Microscopic origin of isotropic non-Heisenberg behavior in S=1 magnetic systems

We have reanalyzed the microscopic origin of the isotropic deviations that are observed from the energy spacings predicted by the HDVV Hamiltonian. Usually, a biquadratic spin operator is added to the HDVV Hamiltonian to account for such deviations. It is shown here that this operator cannot describe the effect of the excited atomic non-Hund states which brought the most important contribution to the deviations. For systems containing more than two magnetic centers, non-Hund states cause additional interactions that are of the same order of magnitude as the biquadratic exchange and should have significant effects on the macroscopic properties of extended systems.

Competition between double exchange and purely magnetic Heisenberg models in mixed valence systems: application to half-doped manganites.

A truncated Hubbard model is developed for the description of the electronic structure of odd-electron TM-L-TM units (TM=transition metal and L=ligand). The model variationally treats both the double exchange and purely magnetic Heisenberg configurations. This Hubbard model can either be mapped on a purely magnetic Heisenber model in which the bridging oxygen is also magnetic or on a double exchange model owing to the hybridization of the magnetic and ligand or bitals. The purely magnetic Heisenberg model is analytically solved in the general case of two metals (having n magnetic orbitals) bridged by a magnetic oxygen. The comparison of the analytical expressions of the Heisenberg energies to those of the double exchange model reveals that the two model spectra are identical except for one state which does not belong to the model space of the double exchange Hamiltonian. Consequently, the fitting of the model spectra to accurate ab initio spectra does not discriminate between the physically different models. These concepts are illustrated for the Mn-O-Mn unit (or Zener polaron) found in the half-doped manganite Pr(0.6)Ca(0.4)MnO3. It is shown that in the present case the projections of the ab initio ground state wave function onto both model spaces are almost identical provided that one uses properly localized orbitals, proving that the magnetic description of the Zener polaron and the double exchange viewpoint of the electronic structure are equally valid.

Ab initio study of the CE magnetic phase in half-doped manganites : Purely magnetic versus double exchange description

The leading electronic interactions governing the local physics of the CE phase of half-doped manganites are extracted from correlated ab initio calculations performed on an embedded cluster. The electronic structure of the low-energy states is dominated by double exchange configurations and O-2

Relation between double exchange and Heisenberg model spectra: Application to the half-doped manganites

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Ab initio study of the Zener polaron spectrum of half-doped manganites: Comparison of several model Hamiltonians

to Mn-3d charge transfer configurations. The model spectra of both a purely magnetic non-symmetric Heisenberg Hamiltonian involving a magnetic oxygen and two non-symmetric double exchange models are compared to the \textit{ab initio} one. While a satisfactory agreement between the Heisenberg spectrum and the calculated one is obtained, the best description is provided by a double exchange model involving excited non-Hund atomic states. This refined model not only perfectly reproduces the spectrum of the embedded cluster in the crystal geometry, but also gives a full description of the local double-well potential energy curve of the ground state (resulting from the interaction of the charge localized electronic configurations) and the local potential energy curves of all excited states ruled by the double exchange mechanism.

Relaxation time of a Brownian rotator in a potential with nonparabolic barriers

The Zener polarons recently found in half-doped manganites are usually seen as mixed valence entities ruled by a double exchange Hamiltonian involving only correlated electrons of the metals. They can however be considered as ferrimagnetic local units if the holes are localized on the bridging oxygen atoms as implicitely suggested by recent mean-field it ab initio calculations. In the latter case, the physics is ruled by a Heisenberg Hamiltonian involving magnetic oxygen bridges. This paper shows that the spectra resulting from the resolution of both models are analytically identical. This single resulting model spectrum accurately reproduces the spectrum of Zener polarons in Pr0.6Ca0.4MnO3 manganite studied by means of explicitely correlated ab initio calculations. Since the physics supported by each model are different, the analysis of the exact Hamiltonian ground state wave function should a priori enables one to determine the most appropriate model. It will be shown that neither the spectrum nor the wavefunction analysis bring any decisive arguments to settle the question. Such undecidability would probably be encountered in experimental information.