Magnetic phases to order

摘要

Condensed-matter physics met chemistry head-on at a workshop in Russia earlier this month, where an impressive array of experimental and theoretical evidence showed that phase separations occur over a variety of length scales, and that the various states of matter that arise can be both physically and chemically tuned. Complex magnetic oxides, such as man-ganites of the form (La,Pr,Ca)MnO_3, can be ordered or disordered over different length scales. A fascinating range of spin, charge and orbital states can thus exist to different spatial extents. Various combinations of these states might order, disorder or melt to become dynamic.