Doping dependent magnetism and exchange bias in CaMn1−xWxO3 manganites

Abstract

Magnetic properties of CaMn1−xWxO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.1) have been investigated, and the research was focused on the exchange bias (EB) phenomenon in CaMn0.93W0.07O3. Magnetic ground state was found to be dependent on tungsten doping level and the following states were distinguished: (i) G-type antiferromagnetic (AFM) state with a weak ferromagnetic (FM) component at x = 0 and 0.04; (ii) mostly orbitally ordered C-type AFM at x = 0.07 and 0.1. For the studied manganites, spontaneous magnetization increases sharply with increasing doping level reaching M0 ≈ 9.5 emu/g at T = 10 K for x = 0.04, and then decreases rapidly reaching zero for x = 0.1. Exchange bias effect, manifested by vertical and horizontal shifts in the hysteresis loop for field cooled sample, has been observed in CaMn0.93W0.07O3. Exchange bias field, coercivity, remanence asymmetry, and magnetic coercivity depend strongly on temperature, cooling field, and maximal measuring field. Horizontal and vertical shifts of magnetization loop sharply decrease with increasing temperature and vanish above 70 K, whereas coercivity and magnetic coercivity disappear only above 100 K (temperature of transition to the G-type AFM state). The exchange bias field HEB increases with increasing cooling field Hcool and goes through a broad maximum at 40 kOe, while the remanence asymmetry increases monotonously in the entire investigated cooling field range, up to 50 kOe. For the compound with x = 0.07, the size of the FM regions ≈2 nm was estimated from the dependence of exchange bias field HEB upon Hcool. It is suggested that the exchange bias originates from interface exchange coupling between small FM clusters and the G-type AFM phase inside the primary C-type orbitally ordered AFM phase.