Oscillatory exchange bias and training effects in nanocrystalline Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3

TL;DR

This paper investigates exchange bias effects in 10 nm Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3 nanoparticles, revealing oscillatory temperature dependence, tunability by cooling field, and notable training effects linked to charge/spin density waves.

Contribution

It demonstrates the temperature-dependent oscillatory exchange bias and the influence of charge/spin density waves in nanocrystalline Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3, highlighting new tunable magnetic phenomena.

Findings

Oscillatory exchange bias varies with temperature and cooling field.

Pronounced training effects observed at 5 K with power-law behavior.

Breakdown of spin configuration model at higher cycle numbers.

Abstract

We report on exchange bias effects in 10 nm particles of Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3 which appear as a result of competing interactions between the ferromagnetic (FM)/anti-ferromagnetic (AFM) phases. The fascinating new observation is the demonstration of the temperature dependence of oscillatory exchange bias (OEB) and is tunable as a function of cooling field strength below the SG phase, may be attributable to the presence of charge/spin density wave (CDW/SDW) in the AFM core of PCMO10. The pronounced training effect is noticed at 5 K from the variation of the EB field as a function of number of field cycles (n) upon the field cooling (FC) process. For n > 1, power-law behavior describes the experimental data well; however, the breakdown of spin configuration model is noticed at n \geq 1.