Study of thermally induced spin state transition in NdCoO3 single crystal

We have carried out Magnetization, Raman spectroscopy and IR spectroscopy studies as a function of temperature to investigate the spin state transition in NdCoO3 single crystal. The crystal has been grown by Optical Float Zone technique and characterized by Synchrotron X-ray Diffraction. Our results indicate that the spin crossover from low spin state (LS) to intermediate spin state (IS) occurs continuously over a wide range of temperature above 200K. The wide temperature range of the spin crossover reflects possible electronic or magnetic in-homogeneity at the microscopic level, which is a common feature of some cobalt perovskites. The magnetization studies indicate a spin gap which is higher than that of LaCoO3 (180 K) and Raman spectroscopy studies reveal a Jahn Teller vibration mode characteristic of the intermediate spin state similar to that reported for LaCoO3 in literature.