Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 March 2016
The presence of the C- and A-type orbital-ordered states has been reported in thehighly-correlated electronic systemSr1-xNdxMnO3 (SNMO). The interesting feature ofthe oxide system is that an increase in the Nd content leads to the (C-type→ A-type) state change across a temperature-independent morphotropicphase boundary (MPB). Although structural fluctuations can be expected near theMPB, the detailed features of the state change have not been understoodsufficiently. Thus, the crystallographic features of the state change in SNMOwith 0.35 ≤ x ≤ 0.49 have been investigated mainly at 300K, by x-ray powder diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. It wasfound that the C-type orbital-ordered state with the tetragonal-I4/mcm symmetryand the disordered orthorhombic-Imma state were present for 0.35 ≤ x≤ 0.43 and for 0.45 ≤ x ≤ 0.49 at 300 K,respectively. The notable feature of the state change is that disordered regionswith the cubic-Pm $\bar 3$ m symmetry were also found locally for x= 0.43, in addition to the C-type state. Because therotational-displacement pattern for oxygen octahedra involved in thedisordered-Imma state is the same as that in the A-type state, furthermore, theformer disordered state may be regarded as a precursor state to the A-typeorbital ordering.