Metastable states in phase separated electron doped Sm 0.15Ca 0.85MnO 3

Abstract

In order to study the mechanism behind the phase separation scenario in the Sm 0.15Ca 0.85MnO 3 compound, magnetization and resistivity measurements have been carried out in pulsed magnetic fields up to 50 T at temperatures 4.2 K< T<200 K. It is found that external magnetic field causes a collapse of a C-type AFM ( P2 1/ m) phase resulting in field-induced insulator–metal transition, which is irreversible below T 1=75 K. In zero field the content of a G-type phase in the mixed C–G state can vary from 10 to 17% at T=10 K. A set of metastable states with different volume ratios of G-type to C-type phases is observed below T 1 depending on the history of the sample. The obtained results indicate that the phase separation plays a dominant role for the electric and the magnetic properties of this material.