Nonlinear alternating current conduction in polycrystalline manganites

Abstract

The real part of ac conductance Σ(T, f) of yttrium-doped mixed-valent polycrystalline manganite systems La1−x−yYyCaxMnO3 with x = 0.33 and 0.05 and y = 0.07 and iron doped LaMn1−xFexO3 with x = 0.15 is measured as a function of frequency f by varying zero-frequency Ohmic conductance Σ0 by T. The former shows a metal-insulator transition, whereas the latter exhibits insulating character throughout the measured temperature range. At a fixed temperature T, Σ(T, f) remains almost constant to the value Σ0 up to a certain frequency, known as the onset frequency fc and increases from Σ0 as frequency is increased from fc. Scaled appropriately, the data for Σ(T, f) at different T fall on the same universal curve, indicating the existence of a general scaling formalism for the ac conductance. fc scales with Σ0 as fc∼Σ0xf, where xf is the nonlinearity exponent characterising the onset. With the help of data for ac conduction, it is shown that xf is very much phase sensitive and can be used to characterize the different phases in a manganite system originated due to change in temperature or disorder. Scaling theories and existing theoretical models are used to analyze the results of ac conduction and the nonlinearity exponent xf.