INVESTIGATIONS ON TRANSITION METAL OXIDES

The coupled dynamics of charge, spin, orbital and lattice degrees of freedom, related to the emergence of complex phases in transition metal oxides has been a long standing research topic among condensed matter community. This monograph largely emphasis on the experimental investigations of several oxide systems by employing a number of techniques. The synthetic methods include conventional solid state route, single crystal growth using floating zone melting technique and thin films. The various aspects of investigations include electronic and magnetic properties, charge-ordering and electronic phase segregation in rare earth manganites, spin- state transitions in rare earth cobaltites and insulator-metal transitions in magnetite (Fe3O4) and karelianite (V2O3). Besides the measurements of magnetoelectric properties, several spectroscopic techniques are employed to study the various problems. The LS¿IS¿ HS spin-state transition in cobaltite is explored using infrared and Raman spectroscopy. Brillouin scattering has been successfully utilized to emphasize role of low energy excitations in the strongly correlated electron systems