Dependence of the Jahn-Teller distortion in LaMn 1-x ScxO3 on the isovalent Mn-site substitution

We investigated the relative importance of removing the Mn3+ Jahn-Teller distortion in driving ferromagnetism in LaMn1-xScxO3 combining x-ray powder diffraction and x-ray absorption spectroscopy at the Mn and Sc K-edges. By increasing the Sc content, the orthorhombic distortion of the Pbnm cell in LaMnO3 decreases but the unit-cell remains slightly distorted in LaScO3. Besides, the nearly tetragonal-distorted MO6 in LaMnO3 continuously evolves into a nearly regular one in LaScO3. On the other hand, x-ray absorption spectra show that the MnO6 octahedron remains Jahn-Teller distorted and the ScO6 octahedron is nearly regular along the whole series. Moreover, the ordering of the Mn3+ Jahn-Teller distortion is not disrupted in the ab plane for any Sc concentration. This contrasts with the Ga- substituted compounds, where a regular MnO6 is found for x>0.5. However, both LaMn0.5Sc0.5O3 and LaMn0.5Ga0.5O3 show ferromagnetic behavior independently of the presence (or not) of Jahn-Teller distorted Mn3+. Thus, our results point to the Mn-sublattice dilution as the main effect in driving ferromagnetism in these manganites over local structure effects previously proposed by the spin flipping or the vibronic superexchange models.