ELECTRONIC-PROPERTIES OF THE METALLIC PEROVSKITE LANIO3 - CORRELATED BEHAVIOR OF 3D ELECTRONS

Low-temperature electrical resistivity, specific heat, and magnetic measurements have been performed on the distorted perovskite LaNiO3. The electrical resistivity shows a linear temperature dependence at high temperatures and an AT2 dependence below approximately 50 K. The static paramagnetic susceptibility is nearly Pauli-like with an additional small Curie-law contribution in the range 100-300 K, and shows stronger temperature dependence at lower temperatures. The specific heat can be represented as gamma-T+beta-T3+delta-T(3)1nT at low temperatures. Both the Pauli magnetic susceptibility chi = 5.1 X 10(-4) emu/mol and the linear temperature coefficient of the specific heat gamma = 13.7 mJ/K2 mol are enhanced well above their electron gas values. The effective Stoner enhancement factor is S = 0.58, i.e., far from the ferromagnetic instability. These results are interpreted in terms of a Fermi liquid composed of almost localized Ni 3d electrons. Thus, LaNiO3 represents a correlated metallic system.