First 17O NMR study of a 17O enriched LaMnO3 stoichiometric crystal

We present the synthesis and the NMR characterization of a 17O enriched LaMnO3 crystalline sample. We checked that it is single phase and, more important, stochiometric in oxygen. Its 17O enrichment estimated by NMR is about 5.5%. These first 17O NMR results obtained at T=415K in a undoped parent LaMnO3 manganite demonstrate that the two oxygen sites of the structure probe very different Mn spin correlations in the paramagnetic orbital ordered phase. This work opens the way to study experimentally the interactions responsible for the orbital order.