Hc. Nguyen et Jb. Goodenough, LOCALIZED-ITINERANT ELECTRONIC-TRANSITION IN THE PEROVSKITE SYSTEM LA1-XCAXVO3, Physical review. B, Condensed matter, 52(12), 1995, pp. 8776-8787
The insulator-metal (I-M) transition near the critical composition x(c
) approximate to 0.26 in La1-xCaxVO3 is confirmed, as is the apparent
existence of a solid solution over the entire compositional range 0 le
ss than or equal to x less than or equal to 1 according to room-temper
ature powder x-ray diffraction. Although interpretation of the evoluti
on with x of its physical properties would seem to require a global el
ectronic model, the magnetic and transport properties we measure below
room temperature suggest the presence of a two-phase electronic model
with itinerant-electron behavior in hole-rich (or electron-poor) doma
ins and localized-electron behavior in hole-poor domains. Localized el
ectronic states within the itinerant-electron domains are associated w
ith atomic vacancies or lattice defects. The system may remain atomica
lly disordered, but an electronic phase segregation can be accomplishe
d at lower temperatures by cooperative oxygen-atom displacements. Sepa
ration into electronically distinguishable phases by this mechanism wo
uld not be detected easily by powder x-ray diffraction. A first-order
structural phase transition occurs in the interval 400-640 K for all x
; the high-temperature phase exhibits a Curie-Weiss paramagnetism.