University of Colorado Team Models Spin Disorder Competition for Paramagnetic Oxide Behavior

Jia-Xin Xiong of University of Colorado, and colleagues, have elucidated the interplay between magnetic and structural order in determining the metallic or insulating behaviour of paramagnetic transition-metal oxides. The competition between spin disorder, a distribution of varying local magnetic moments, and positional symmetry breaking, caused by atomic displacements, governs the electronic properties of these materials. Their symmetry-broken density-functional theory analysis of NaFeO3 and NaOsO3 reveals that the balance between these two factors dictates whether the paramagnetic phase is metallic or insulating, offering a new…