40 research outputs found
Studies on Magnetic-field induced first-order transitions
We shall discuss magnetization and transport measurements in materials
exhibiting a broad first-order transition. The phase transitions would be
caused by varying magnetic field as well as by varying temperature, and we
concentrate on ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic transitions in magnetic
materials. We distinguish between metastable supercooled phases and metastable
glassy phase.Comment: 50th Golden Jubilee Solid State Physics Symposium during Dec.5-9
(2005) in Mumbai - manuscript of Invited tal
Interesting thermomagnetic history effects in the antiferromagnetic state of SmMn_2Ge_2
We present results of magnetization measurements showing that the magnetic
response of the antiferromagnetic state of SmMn_2Ge_2 depends on the path used
in the field(H)-temperature(T) phase space to reach this state. Distinct
signature of metastablity is observed in this antiferromagnetic state when
obtained via field-cooling/field-warming paths. The isothermal M-H loops show
lack of end-point memory, reminiscent of that seen in metastable vortex states
near the field-induced first order phase transition in various type-II
superconductors.Comment: 11 pages of text and 3 figure
First order phase transition from ferromagnetism to antiferromagnetism in Ce(FeAl)
Taking the pseudobinary C15 Laves phase compound
Ce(FeAl) as a paradigm for studying a ferromagnetic to
antiferromagnetic phase transition, we present interesting thermomagnetic
history effects in magnetotransport as well as magnetisation measurements
across this phase transition. A comparison is made with history effects
observed across the ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic transition in
RSrMnO crystals.Comment: 11 pages of text and 4 figures; submitted to Physical Review Letter
First order magneto-structural transition in functional magnetic materials: phase-coexistence and metastability
First order magneto-structural transition plays an important role in the functionality of various magnetic materials of current interest like manganese oxide systems showing colossal magnetoresistance, Gd5(Ge, Si)4 alloys showing giant magnetocaloric effects and magnetic shape memory alloys. The key features of this magneto-structural transition are phase-coexistence and metastability. This generality is highlighted with experimental results obtained in a particular class of materials. A generalized framework of disorder influenced first order phase transition is introduced to understand the interesting experimental results which have some bearing on the functionality of the concerned materials
Phase separation and the effect of quenched disorder in
The nature of phase separation in has been probed by
linear as well as nonlinear magnetic susceptibilities and resistivity
measurements across the 2nd order paramagnetic to ferromagnetic transition
() and 1st order ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic transition (). We
found that the ferromagnetic (metallic) clusters, which form with the onset of
long-range order in the system at , continuously decrease their size with
the decrease in temperature and coexist with non-ferromagnetic (insulating)
clusters. These non-ferromagnetic clusters are identified to be
antiferromagnetic. Significantly, it is shown that they do not arise because of
the superheating effect of the lower temperature 1st order transition. Thus
reveals unique phase coexistence in a manganite around half-doping encompassing
two long-range order transitions. Both the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic
clusters form at and persist much below . Substitution of quenched
disorder (Ga) at Mn-site promotes antiferromagnetism at the cost of
ferromagnetism without adding any magnetic interaction or introducing any
significant lattice distortion. Moreover, increase in disorder decreases the
ferromagnetic cluster size and with 7.5% Ga substitution clusters size reduces
to the single domain limit. Yet, all the samples show significant short-range
ferromagnetic interaction much above . Resistivity measurements also
reveal the novel phase coexistence identified from the magnetic measurements.
It is significant that, increase in disorder up to 7.5% increases the
resistivity of the low temperature antiferromagnetic phase by about four
orders
Thermomagnetic history effects in SmMnGe
The intermetallic compound SmMnGe, displaying multiple magnetic phase
transitions, is being investigated in detail for its magnetization behavior
near the 145 K first order ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic transition
occuring on cooling, in particular for thermomagnetic history effects in the
magnetization data. The most unusual finding is that the thermomagnetic
irreversibility, [= M(T)-M(T)] at 135 K is higher in
intermediate magnetic field strengths. By studying the response of the sample
(i.e., thermomagnetic irreversibility and thermal hysteresis) to different
histories of application of magnetic field and temperature, we demonstrate how
the supercooling and superheating of the metastable magnetic phases across the
first order transition at 145 K contribute to overall thermomagnetic
irreversibility.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Physical Review
First order metamagnetic transition in CeFe based pseudobinary alloys
We present results of dc magnetisation study showing that the low temperature
antiferromagnetic state in various CeFe-based pseudobinary alloys can be
transformed into ferromagnetic state through a magnetic field induced phase
transition. We highlight the presence of hysteresis and phase coexistence
across this metamagnetic transition and argue that the observed phase
transition is of first order in nature.Comment: 11 pages of text and 9 figures ; to appear in Journal of Physics:
Condens. Matte