Magnetic field induced metastability in the self-doped manganites

TL;DR

This study reveals field-induced metastable states and phase coexistence in self-doped manganites, evidenced by resistivity bifurcation, hysteresis, and domain wall dynamics, indicating complex magnetic and electronic phase transitions.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the metastability and phase coexistence phenomena induced by magnetic fields in self-doped manganites.

Findings

Resistivity bifurcation between zero-field cooled and field-cooled states.

Inverse thermal hysteresis indicating first-order phase transition.

Domain wall dynamics affecting resistivity at low temperatures.

Abstract

We observe an interesting scenario of field induced metastabilities in the resistivity measurements. The resistivity exhibits a bifurcation of zero-field cooled and field-cooled (FC) temperature dependence below the paramagnetic to ferromagnetic transition ($T_c$). The clear evidence of {\it inverse} thermal hysteresis of resistivity is observed under FC condition in between 85 and 200 K, indicating the first order phase transition at $T_c$. The additional observation of minor hysteresis loops confirms the phase coexistence. The interesting features in the dynamics of resistivity is observed at 40 K, which is suggested due to the effect of domain wall dynamics.