Local metallic and structural properties of the strongly correlated metal $\mathrm{LaNiO_3}$ using $\mathrm{^8Li β-NMR}$
We report β-detected NMR of ion-implanted $\mathrm{^8Li}$ in a single crystal and thin film of the strongly correlated metal $\mathrm{LaNiO_3}$. Spin-lattice relaxation measurements reveal two distinct local environments, both metallic as evident from $T$-linear Korringa $\mathrm{1/T_1}$ below $\mathrm{200K}$ with slopes comparable to other metals. A small approximately temperature-independent Knight shift of $\mathrm{~74 ppm}$ is observed, yielding a normalized Korringa product characteristic of substantial antiferromagnetic correlations.We find no evidence for a magnetic transition from 4 to $\mathrm{310 K}$. The similarity of these features in the two very different samples indicates that they are intrinsic and unrelated to dilute oxygen vacancies. We attribute the two environments to two distinct but similar crystallographic $\mathrm{^8Li}$ sites and not to any form of phase inhomogeneity, but this is inconsistent with the conventional rhombohedral structure of $\mathrm{LaNiO_3}$, and also cannot be simply explained by the common alternative orthorhombic or monoclinic distortions.