Lattice Displacements Above Tc in the Layered Manganite La1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7

Neutron diffraction data presented in this paper demonstrates the relevance of lattice displacement above TC, in our understanding of the evolution of the crystal structure with temperature in the layered CMR manganite La1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7. The anomalous temperature behavior of thermal diffuse scattering (TDS) in La1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7 strongly suggests that it arises from lattice displacements and correlates directly with anomalies in the displacement parameters of the O- and Mn-atoms and Mn-O bond lengths. From our measurements, the insulator - metal transition can be described as a transition from a high temperature state with disordered Mn-O bond lengths to a low temperature state with a more uniform distribution on Mn-O bonds. These observations are in agreement with polaronic charge transport above TC in the perovskite manganites; as electron hopping is responsible for bond disorder above TC, below the transition where eg carries are delocalized, any lattice displacements are uniformly averaged.