English

First-principle Study of Multiple Metastable Charge Ordering States in La$_{1/3}$Sr$_{2/3}$FeO$_{3}$

Strongly Correlated Electrons 2025-06-25 v2 Materials Science

Abstract

La doped SrFeO3_{3}, La1/3_{1/3}Sr2/3_{2/3}FeO3_{3}, exhibits a metal-to-insulator transition accompanied by both antiferromagnetic and charge ordering states along with the Fe-O bond disproportionation below a critical temperature near 200K. Unconventionally slow charge dynamics measured in this material near the critical temperature shows that its excited charge ordering states can exhibit novel electronic structures with nontrivial energy profiles. Here, we reveal possible metastable states of charge ordering structures in La1/3_{1/3}Sr2/3_{2/3}FeO3_{3} using the first-principle and climbing image nudged elastic band methods. In the strong correlation regime, La1/3_{1/3}Sr2/3_{2/3}FeO3_{3} is an antiferromagnetic insulator with a charge ordering state of the big-small-big pattern, consistent with the experimental measurement of this material at the low temperature. As the correlation effect becomes weak, we find at least two possible metastable charge ordering states with the distinct Fe-O bond disproportionation. Remarkably, a ferroelectric metallic state emerges with the small energy barrier of \sim7 meV, driven by a metastable CO state of the small-medium-big pattern. The electronic structures of these metastable charge ordering states are noticeably different from those of the ground-state. Our results can provide an insightful explanation to multiple metastable charge ordering states and the slow charge dynamics of this and related oxide materials.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2309.03995,
  title  = {First-principle Study of Multiple Metastable Charge Ordering States in La$_{1/3}$Sr$_{2/3}$FeO$_{3}$},
  author = {Nam Nguyen and Alex Taekyung Lee and Vijay Singh and Anh T. Ngo and Hyowon Park},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2309.03995},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

The paper has 8 pages and 7 figures