Phase Separations in Highly Correlated Materials |
| A. Marcellia,b
aINFN - Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, P.O. Box 13, 00044 Frascati, Italy bRICMASS, Rome International Center for Materials Science Superstripes, 00185 Rome, Italy |
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| The X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy is a unique powerful local and fast experimental method to study complex systems since it probes the nanoscale structure around selected atoms giving evidence for different local and instantaneous phases present in multiscale highly correlated granular systems. Transition metals and rare earth oxides like manganites, cuprates or pnictides superconductors show a rich variety of different competing structural, electronic and magnetic phases, which spatially coexist forming complex lattice textures. Many recent experimental data have pointed out the presence of arrested phase separation and the interplay of different phases occurring from nano- to micrometer-scale. This scenario opens the possibility to manipulate the mesoscopic phases to get new material functionalities. Therefore there is increasing need to develop methods to probe morphology and phase distribution at multiple length scales. Actually, combining X-ray imaging at high spatial resolution with μ-XANES spectroscopy both mesoscale, nanoscale and atomic structural changes can be identified. The μ-XANES spectroscopy technique is rapidly growing to investigate adaptive matter, high temperature superconductors, complex materials showing arrested phase separation at the mesoscale. |
DOI: 10.12693/APhysPolA.129.264 PACS numbers: 61.05.C-, 61.05.cj |