The interplay between Jahn-Teller distortions and structural degrees of freedom on pseudocubic states in manganite perovskites

Abstract

The average structure of the solid solution LaMn$_{1-x}$Ga$_x$O$_3$ (LMGO) has been investigated from a symmetry-motivated approach utilizing synchrotron x-ray and neutron powder diffraction techniques. We show experimentally that a trilinear coupling term ($\Gamma_5^+$M$_2^+$M$_3^+$) between shear strain, octahedral rotation, and the $C$-type orbital ordering mode is responsible for driving the orthorhombic to pseudocubic phase transition occurring in the composition range 0.5 $<$ $x$ $<$ 0.6. Our Monte Carlo simulations elucidate the macroscopic origin of this coupling to shear strain, and point to its importance with respect to controlling the orbital order-disorder transitions. We find that the emergence of the pseudocubic state can be rationalized by considering the competition between this trilinear term and a linear-quadratic term of the out-of-phase octahedral tilting with strain ($\Gamma_5^+$(R$_5^-$)$^2$). Illustrating the general nature of these results, we construct a simple function that captures the change in Landau free energy at the order-disorder transition, in parameters that are trivial to relate to the concentration of Jahn--Teller active species, temperature, tolerance factor and unit cell strain, for a broad range of manganite perovskites. Our results point to the fact that far from the pseudocubic state being a symptom of orbital disorder, it is in many cases more correctly to view it as a cause. The results have a broad impact on the study of orbital ordering physics in the perovskite materials and on chemical and physical control parameters through which to tune the richness of the intertwined physical properties.