Imaging the evolution of a glassy magnetic transition in a disordered ferromagnetic manganite

ORAL

Abstract

An intriguing glass-like transition in (La,Pr,Ca)MnO$_3$ is, for the first time, imaged using a variable-temperature magnetic force microscope. Images showing the temperature and magnetic- field evolution of the local magnetic structure illustrate the microscopic origin of the bifurcation of magnetic susceptibility, which is a ubiquitous phenomenon in heavily-disordered ferromagnets, and traditionally considered as a signature of a ``cluster glass transition.'' The observed avalanche-type behavior reveals the collective nature of the glassy transition in the manganites, where ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases are intricately mixed.

*This work is supported by NSF DMR-0308575

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Authors

  • Weida Wu

  • Casey Israel

    • Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin

  • Alex de Lozanne

    • Dept. of Physics, UT Austin

  • N. Hur

    • Los Alamos National Lab, Cond. Matt. and Thermal Physics
    • MST-10, Los Alamos National Laboratory

  • S. Park

    • Rutgers University, USA

  • Sang-Wook Cheong

    • Dept. of Physics \& Astronomy, Rutgers
    • Rutgers University, Department of Physics
    • Rutgers University
    • Rutgers University, USA
    • Rutgers Center for Emergent Materials and Department of Physics \& Astronomy, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854
    • Rutgers Center for Emergent Materials