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Evolution of a metastable phase with a magnetic phase coexistence phenomenon and its unusual sensitivity to magnetic field cycling in the alloys Tb5-xLuxSi3 (x <= 0.7)
Recently, we reported an anomalous enhancement of the positive
magnetoresistance beyond a critical magnetic field in Tb5Si3 in the
magnetically ordered state, attributable to 'inverse metamagnetism'. This
results in unusual magnetic hysteresis loops for the pressurized specimens,
which are relevant to the topic of 'electronic phase separation'. In this
paper, we report the influence of small substitutions of Lu for Tb, to show the
evolution of these magnetic anomalies. We find that, at low temperatures, the
high-field high-resistivity phase could be partially stabilized on returning
the magnetic field to zero in many of these Lu substituted alloys, as measured
through the electrical resistivity ({\rho}). Also, the relative fractions of
this phase and the virgin phase appear to be controlled by a small tuning of
the composition and temperature. Interestingly, at 1.8 K a sudden 'switch-over'
of the value of {\rho} for this mixed phase to that for the virgin phase for
some compositions is observed at low fields after a few field cycles,
indicating metastability of this mixed phase
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