Investigation of hole-doped insulating $La_{1-x}Sr_xCrO_3$ by soft-x-ray absorption spectroscopy

We report x-ray absorption spectra at the $Cr L_{2,3}$ and oxygen K edges from $La_{1-x}Sr_xCrO_3$ for several values of x. Various spectral features observed are interpreted in terms of transitions to states with different symmetries. The results show that the doped holes are localized with primarily Cr d character, suggesting the formation of local $Cr^{4+}$ -like configurations, arising from the Mott-Hubbard insulating nature of the parent stoichiometric compound. These results are discussed in relation to the transport properties