Itinerant Antiferromagnetism in RuO$_{2}$
Abstract
Bulk rutile RuO$_2$ has long been considered a Pauli paramagnet. Here we report that
RuO$_2$ exhibits a hitherto undetected lattice distortion below approximately 900
K. The distortion is accompanied by antiferromagnetic order up to at least 300 K with
a small room temperature magnetic moment of approximately 0.05 $\mu_B$ as evidenced
by polarized neutron diffraction. Density functional theory plus $U$ (DFT+$U$) calculations
indicate that antiferromagnetism is favored even for small values of the Hubbard $U$
of the order of 1 eV. The antiferromagnetism may be traced to a Fermi surface instability,
lifting the band degeneracy imposed by the rutile crystal field. The combination of
high N\'eel temperature and small itinerant moments make RuO$_2$ unique among ruthenate
compounds and among oxide materials in general.
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/13673Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.077201Publication Info
Berlijn, T; Snijders, PC; Delaire, O; Zhou, H-D; Maier, TA; Cao, H-B; ... Weitering,
HH (2017). Itinerant Antiferromagnetism in RuO$_{2}$. PRL, 118. pp. 077201. 10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.077201. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/13673.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Olivier Delaire
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
The Delaire group investigates atomistic transport processes of energy and charge,
and thermodynamics in energy materials. We use a combined experimental and computational
approach to understand and control microscopic energy transport for the design of
next-generation materials, in particular for sustainable energy applications. Current
materials of interest include superionic conductors, photovoltaics, thermoelectrics,
ferroelectrics/multiferroics, and metal-insulator transitions. Our group

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