Spin-controlled Mott-Hubbard bands in LaMnO3 probed by optical ellipsometry.

Spectral ellipsometry is used to determine the dielectric function of an untwinned crystal of LaMnO3 in the range 0.5-5.6 eV at temperatures 50<or=T<or=300 K. A pronounced redistribution of spectral weight is found at the Ne el temperature T(N)=140 K. The anisotropy of the spectral weight transfer matches the magnetic ordering pattern. A superexchange model quantitatively describes spectral weight transfer induced by spin correlations. This analysis implies that the lowest-energy transitions around 2 eV are intersite d-d transitions, and that LaMnO3 is a Mott-Hubbard insulator.