Magnetic and orbital ordering of RuO/sub 2/ planes in RuSr/sub 2/ (Eu,Gd) Cu/sub 2/O/sub 8/

Abstract

We start from an effective Hamiltonian for Ru ions in a square lattice, which includes the on-site interactions between t2g orbitals derived from Coulomb repulsion, and a tetragonal crystal-field splitting. Using perturbation theory in the hopping terms, we derive effective Hamiltonians to describe the RuO2 planes of RuSr2sEu,GddCu2O8. For undoped planes (formal valence Ru+5), depending on the parameters we find three possible orderings of spin and orbitals, and construct a phase diagram. This allows us to put constraints on the parameters based on experimental data. When electron doping consistent with the hole doping of the superconducting RuO2 planes is included, we obtain (for reasonable parameters) a double-exchange model with infinite antiferromagnetic coupling between itinerant electrons and localized spins. This model is equivalent to one used before [H. Aliaga and A. A. Aligia, Physica B 320, 34 (2002)], which consistently explains the seemingly contradictory magnetic properties of RuSr2sEu,GddCu2O8.