20,253 research outputs found
Magnetic and electron transport properties of the rare-earth cobaltates, La0.7-xLnxCa0.3CoO3 (Ln = Pr, Nd, Gd and Dy) : A case of phase separation
Magnetic and electrical properties of four series of rare earth cobaltates of
the formula La0.7-xLnxCa0.3CoO3 with Ln = Pr, Nd, Gd and Dy have been
investigated. Compositions close to x = 0.0 contain large ferromagnetic
clusters or domains, and show Brillouin-like behaviour of the field-cooled DC
magnetization data with fairly high ferromagnetic Tc values, besides low
electrical resistivities with near-zero temperature coefficients. The
zero-field-cooled data generally show a non-monotonic behaviour with a peak at
a temperatures slightly lower than Tc. The near x = 0.0 compositions show a
prominent peak corresponding to the Tc in the AC-susceptibility data. The
ferromagnetic Tc varies linearly with x or the average radius of the A-site
cations, (rA). With increase in x or decrease in (rA), the magnetization value
at any given temperature decreases markedly and the AC-susceptibility
measurements show a prominent transition arising from small magnetic clusters
with some characteristics of a spin-glass. Electrical resistivity increases
with increase in x, showed a significant increase around a critical value of x
or (rA), at which composition the small clusters also begin to dominate. These
properties can be understood in terms of a phase separation scenario wherein
large magnetic clusters give way to smaller ones with increase in x, with both
types of clusters being present in certain compositions. The changes in
magnetic and electrical properties occur parallely since the large
ferromagnetic clusters are hole-rich and the small clusters are hole-poor.
Variable-range hopping seems to occur at low temperatures in these cobaltates.Comment: 23 pages including figure
Field-induced Polar Order at the N\'eel Temperature of Chromium in Rare-earth Orthochromites: Interplay of Rare-earth and Cr Magnetism
We report field-induced switchable polarization (P = 0.2 ~ 0.8 microC/cm2)
below the N\'eel temperature of chromium (TN Cr) in weakly ferromagnetic
rareearth orthochromites, RCrO3 (R=rareearth) but only when the rareearth ion
is magnetic. Intriguingly, the polarization in ErCrO3 (TC ~ 133 K) disappears
at a spin reorientation (Morin) transition (TSR ~ 22 K) below which the weak
ferromagnetism associated with the Cr sublattice also disappears, demonstrating
the crucial role of weak ferromagnetism in inducing the polar order. Further,
the polarization (P) is strongly influenced by applied magnetic field,
indicating a strong magneto electric effect. We suggest that the polar order
occurs in RCrO3, due to the combined effect of poling field that breaks the
symmetry and the exchange field on R ion from Cr sublattice stabilizes the
polar state. We propose that a similar mechanism could work in the
isostructural rareearth orthoferrites, RFeO3 as well.Comment: 31 pages (Manuscript(6 figures)+supplemental information(8 figures)
Interplay of 4f-3d Magnetism and Ferroelectricity in DyFeO3
DyFeO3 exhibits a weak ferromagnetism (TNFe ~ 645 K) that disappears below a
spin-reorientation (Morin) transition at TSRFe ~ 50 K. It is also known that
applied magnetic field induces ferroelectricity at the magnetic ordering
temperature of Dy-ions (TNDy ~ 4.5 K). Here, we show that the ferroelectricity
exists in the weak ferromagnetic state (TSRFe < T < TN,C) without applying
magnetic field, indicating the crucial role of weak ferromagnetism in inducing
ferroelectricity. 57Fe M\"ossbauer studies show that hyperfine field (Bhf)
deviates from mean field-like behaviour that is observed in the weak
ferromagnetic state and decreases below the onset of spin-reorientation
transition (80 K), implying that the Bhf above TSR had additional contribution
from Dy-ions due to induced magnetization by the weak ferromagnetic moment of
Fe-sublattice and below TSR, this contribution decreases due to collinear
ordering of Fe-sublattice. These results clearly demonstrate the presence of
magnetic interactions between Dy(4f) and Fe(3d) and their correlation with
ferroelectricity in the weak ferromagnetic state of DyFeO3.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, published in EP
Solitary Dust--Acoustic Waves in a Plasma with Two-Temperature Ions and Distributed Grain Size
The propagation of weakly nonlinear dust--acoustic waves in a dusty plasma
containing two ion species with different temperatures is explored. The
nonlinear equations describing both the quadratic and cubic plasma
nonlinearities are derived. It is shown that the properties of dust--acoustic
waves depend substantially on the grain size distribution. In particular, for
solitary dust--acoustic waves with a positive potential to exist in a plasma
with distributed grain size, it is necessary that the difference between the
temperatures of two ion species be large that that in the case of unusized
grains.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figure
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