Irreversible Meta-Magnetic Transition in Charge Ordered Nd < inf > 0.5 < /inf > Ca < inf > 0.5 < /inf > MnO < inf > 3 < /inf > Manganite

Abstract

The investigation of charge ordering (CO) suppression and consequence effects in manganites are of interest to the scientific community as they help them to understand the interactions among the spin, charge and orbital degrees of freedom of conduction electrons. In this work, the suppression of CO in small bandwidth half-doped manganite, Nd0.5Ca0.5MnO3 (NCMO) has been demonstrated by reducing the particle size. Bulk and nano forms of NCMO materials are prepared by sol-gel technique and characterized by various physicochemical techniques. The magnetic and magnetotransport properties of bulk samples show the exciting features, viz., CO, training and irreversible metamagnetic effects, whereas these features are significantly suppressed in the nanoscale sample. The observed behavior in the present investigation is explained in terms of magnetic phase separation and spin memory effects. Our investigation establishes a combined effect of surface spin disorder and lattice strains for the suppression of CO behavior in NCMO manganite system.