arXiv subjects

P. Chaddah

Publications and source records attributed to P. Chaddah.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2011

Magnetic glasses and structural glasses: devitrification and a reentrant transition under CHUF protocol

A recent paper from Raveau's group asserts that the specially designed CHUF measurement protocol serves to bring out a special feature of the magnetic glass state. This protocol, enunciated and applied in our publications since over three years, allows establishing phase coexistence through macroscopic measurements and distinguishing the metastable and stable phases (amongst the coexisting phase fractions across a first order magnetic transition) of a glass-like arrested state. In view of the recent report of the vitrification of monoatomic germanium under pressure, we discuss the applicability of an analogous CHUP protocol for states across an arrested first order structural transition, and specifically in establishing whether the vitrification was partial or complete.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2011

Comment on "Formation of magnetic glass in calcium doped YBaCo$_2$O$_{5.5}$ cobaltites" [arXiv:1106.6253]

A recent paper from Raveau's group (arXiv:1106.6253) has shown the existence of a glass-like arrested state in two calcium-doped cobaltites, which consists of coexisting ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phase fractions, resulting from arrest of kinetics at low temperature,. They use the "cooling and heating in unequal magnetic field (CHUF)" measurement protocol to show devitrification of the arrested state. They use the same section title, protocol name, and acronym as in the paper (arXiv:0805.1514) where the protocol was presented, justified, and exploited. They nowhere refer to that paper, or to its journal counterpart. We put the development of this CHUF protocol in perspective, bringing out that it was conceived for broadened first order transitions where the kinetics of the transformation gets hindered. We also point out its applicability in view of our various subsequent works (arXiv:0911.4552, arXiv:1003.4400 and their journal counterparts) further exploiting this protocol. The paper being commented on is also silent about these latter papers (or their journal counterparts) even though the use of this protocol is highlighted in these in the abstract itself.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2011

Relating field-induced shift in transition temperature to the kinetics of coexisting phases in magnetic shape memory alloys

In a magnetic shape memory alloy system, we vary composition following phenomenological arguments to tune macroscopic properties. We achieve significantly higher shift in austenite to martensitic phase transition temperature with magnetic field. This enhancement is accompanied by significant broadening of the transition and by field-induced arrest of kinetics, both of which are related to the dynamics of the coexisting phases. This reveals hitherto unknown interrelationship between different length-scales. This may serve as an effective route for comprehensive understanding of similar multicomponent systems which show considerable variation in physical properties by minor change in microscopic parameters.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2010

Overtaking while approaching equilibrium

A system initially far from equilibrium is expected to take more time to reach equilibrium than a system that was initially closer to equilibrium. The old puzzling observation (also called Mpemba effect) that when a sample of hot water and another sample of cold water are put in a freezer to equilibrate, the hot water sometimes overtakes as they cool, has been highlighted recently. In the extensively studied colossal magnetoresistance manganites, cooling in a magnetic field (H) often results in an inhomogeneous mixture of transformed equilibrium phase and a kinetically arrested non-equilibrium phase which relaxes slowly towards equilibrium at fixed H and temperature (T). Here we show that the magnetization decay rate at the same H and T is larger for the state that was initially farther from equilibrium, and it continues to relax faster even after these have become equal. Our result should help propose an explanation, for Mpemba effect, that does not attribute it to any artifact.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2010

Effect of simultaneous application of field and pressure on magnetic transitions in La${_{0.5}}$Ca${_{0.5}}$MnO${_{3}}$

We study combined effect of hydrostatic pressure and magnetic field on the magnetization of La${_{0.5}}$Ca${_{0.5}}$MnO${_{3}}$. We do not observe any significant effect of pressure on the paramagnetic to ferromagnetic transition. However, pressure asymmetrically affects the thermal hysteresis across the ferro-antiferromagnetic first-order transition, which has strong field dependence. Though the supercooling (T*) and superheating (T**) temperatures decrease and the value of magnetization at 5K (M$_{5K}$) increases with pressure, T* and M$_{5K}$ shows abrupt changes in tiny pressure of 0.68kbar. These anomalies enhance with field. In 7Tesla field, transition to antiferromagnetic phase disappears in 0.68kbar and M$_{5K}$ show significant increase. Thereafter, increase in pressure up to $\sim$10kbar has no noticeable effect on the magnetization.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2010

Effect of strain on phase separation and de-vitrification of magnetic glass state in thin films of La5/8-yPryCa3/8MnO3 (y=0.45)

We present our study of effect of substrate induced strain on the La5/8-yPryCa3/8MnO3 (y=0.45), thin films grown on LaAlO3, NdGaO3 and SrTiO3 susbtrates that show large scale phase separation. It is observed that unstrained films grown on NdGaO3 behave quite similar to bulk material but the strained film grown on SrTiO3 show melting of insulating phase to metallic phase at low temperatures. However, the large scale phase separation and metastable glass-like state is observed in all the films despite difference in substrate induced strain. The measurements of resistivity as a function of temperature under cooling and heating in unequal field (CHUF) protocol elucidates the presence of glass-like meta-stable phase generated due to kinetic arrest of first order transformation in all the films. Like structural glasses, these magnetic glass-like phase shows evidence of devitrification of the arrested charge order-antiferromagnetic insulator (CO-AFI) phase to equilibrium ferromagnetic metallic (FMM) phase with isothermal increase of magnetic field and/or iso-field warming. These measurements also clearly brought out the equilibrium ground state of this system to be FMM and metastable glass-like phase to be AFI phase.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2009

Excess specific heat and evidence of zero point entropy in magnetic glassy state of half-doped manganites

We show that specific heat C$_p$ has non-Debye behavior for glassy states in half-doped manganites. Irrespective of the magnetic order or electronic states, these magnetic glasses have higher C$_p$ compared to their equilibrium counterparts. The excess C$_p$ contributed by the glassy state varies linearly with temperature similar to conventional glasses indicating tunneling in the two-level systems. These glassy states show signature of zero point entropy. Magnetic glasses can be produced simply by different field cooling protocols and may be considered ideal magnetic counterpart of the conventional glass.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2009

Variation of T$_g$ with magnetic field in a magnetic glass

Glass-like arrest has recently been reported in various magnetic materials. As in structural glasses, the kinetics of a first-order transformation is arrested while retaining the higher-entropy phase as a non-ergodic state. We show visual mesoscopic evidence of the irreversible devitrification of the arrested antiferromagnetic-insulating phase in $Pr_{0.5}Ca_{0.5}Mn_{0.975}Al_{0.025}O_3$ to its equilibrium ferromagnetic-metallic phase with isothermal increase of magnetic field, similar to its iso-field devitrification on warming. The slope of $T_g$ vs magnetic field in half-doped manganites is shown to have a sign governed by Le Chatelier's Principle.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2008

Studies on phase transition and phase coexistence - traversing T and H using liquid helium

Liquid helium is crucial to conveniently vary magnetic field (H) and temperature (T) giving access to a large region of (H, T) space; in stark contrast with the effort currently required to explore a comparable region of (P, T) space. The centenary of the liquefaction of helium is an appropriate occasion to talk on the utilization of our facilities for studies across first order phase transitions. We observed some interesting effects in variety of systems traversing (H, T) space across the magnetic first order phase transitions. We focus here on a few recent intriguing discoveries in the half-doped manganites related to the coexistence of equilibrium phase, with a glass-like phase having both structural and magnetic long-range order.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2008

Conversion of glassy antiferromagnetic-insulating phase to equilibrium ferromagnetic-metallic phase by devitrification and recrystallization in Al substituted Pr${_{0.5}}$Ca$_{0.5}$MnO${_3}$

We show that Pr${_{0.5}}$Ca$_{0.5}$MnO${_3}$ with 2.5% Al substitution and La${_{0.5}}$Ca$_{0.5}$MnO${_3}$ (LCMO) exhibit qualitatively similar and visibly anomalous M-H curves at low temperature. Magnetic field causes a broad first-order but irreversible antiferromagnetic (AF)-insulating (I) to ferromagnetic (FM)-metallic (M) transition in both and gives rise to soft FM state. However, the low temperature equilibrium state of Pr$_{0.5}$Ca$_{0.5}$Mn$_{0.975}$Al$_{0.025}$O$_3$ (PCMAO) is FM-M whereas that of LCMO is AF-I. In both the systems the respective equilibrium phase coexists with the other phase with contrasting order, which is not in equilibrium, and the cooling field can tune the fractions of the coexisting phases. It is shown earlier that the coexisting FM-M phase behaves like `magnetic glass' in LCMO. Here we show from specially designed measurement protocols that the AF-I phase of PCMAO has all the characteristics of magnetic glassy states. It devitrifies on heating and also recrystallizes to equilibrium FM-M phase after annealing. This glass-like AF-I phase also shows similar intriguing feature observed in FM-M magnetic glassy state of LCMO that when the starting coexisting fraction of glass is larger, successive annealing results in larger fraction of equilibrium phase. This similarity between two manganite systems with contrasting magnetic orders of respective glassy and equilibrium phases points toward a possible universality.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2007

Recrystallization of glass: homogeneous vs. heterogeneous nucleation in La(0.5)Ca(0.5)MnO3

We probe through magnetization and resistivity measurements a kinetically arrested glass-like but long-range ordered magnetic state. The transformation kinetics of the magnetic field-temperature induced broad first-order transition from ferromagnetic-metallic (FMM) to antiferromagnetic-insulating (AFI) state gets hindered at low temperature in a La(0.5)Ca(0.5)MnO3 sample. A fraction of high-temperature FMM phase persists to the lowest temperature, albeit as a non-ergodic state. We present a phenomenology for this glass-like but long-range order FMM phase which devitrifies on heating and converts to equilibrium AFI phase. The residual kinetically arrested FMM phase can be `recrystallized' to AFI state by annealing and more efficiently by successive annealing, presumably by heterogeneous nucleation. This glass-like state shows a stimulating feature that when the fraction of glass is larger the `recrystallization' is easier.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2007

Devitrification of a glass-like arrested ferromagnetic phase in La0.5Ca0.5MnO3

Magnetization measurements in La0.5Ca0.5MnO3 manganite show that the high-temperature long-range ferromagnetic-metallic phase transforms to antiferromagnetic-insulating phase, although a fraction of ferromagnetic-metallic phase undergoes glass-like kinetic arrest and coexists at low temperature with the equilibrium antiferromagnetic-insulating phase. We show here through resistivity measurements that the residual arrested ferromagnetic-metallic fraction can be converted to the equilibrium antiferromagnetic-insulating phase by successive annealing at higher temperatures, possibly through heterogeneous nucleation of equilibrium phase. Significantly, larger fractions of this glassy ferromagnetic-metallic phase can be obtained by cooling in higher fields and larger conversion to equilibrium antiferromagnetic-insulating phase results.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2007

Enhancement of equilibrium fraction by heterogeneous nucleation in a "phase separated" half-doped manganite

Glass-like arrest of kinetics has been observed across many magnetic first-order transitions. By traversing the two control variable H-T space, tunable coexisting fractions of arrested and equilibrium phases have been observed. We report here a fortuitous situation in a half-doped manganite sample, where these features occur by varying only temperature (T) along the H=0 line. The resistivity at 5 K rises by more than a factor of three provided second cool-down is effected from a specified intermediate T. This significant enhancement results from heterogeneous nucleation during second cool-down of regions that were kinetically arrested during first cool-down.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2007

Anomalous First Order Transition in $Nd{_{0.5}}Sr{_{0.5}}MnO{_{3}}$: An interplay between kinetic arrest and thermodynamic transitions

A detailed investigation of the first order antiferromagnetic insulator (AFI) to ferromagnetic metal (FMM) transition in $Nd{_{0.5}}Sr{_{0.5}}MnO{_{3}}$ is carried out by resistivity and magnetization measurements. These studies reveal several anomalous features of thermomagnetic irreversibility across the first order transition. We show that these anomalous features can not be explained in terms of supercooling effect alone and H-T diagram based on isothermal MH or RH measurement alone do not reflect true nature of the first order transition in this compound. Our investigations reveal glass-like arrest of kinetics at low temperature which plays a dominant role in the anomalous thermomagnetic irreversibility observed in this system. The interplay between kinetic arrest and supercooling is investigated by following novel paths in the H-T space. It is shown that coexisting FMM and AFI phases can be tuned in a number of ways at low temperature. These measurements also show that kinetic arrest temperature and supercooling temperature are anti-correlated i.e. regions which are arrested at low temperature have higher supercooling temperature and vice versa.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2007

Two-phase coexistence is tunable and is not the equilibrium state in half-doped manganites

We discuss our very interesting experimental observation that the low-temperature two-phase coexistence in half-doped manganites is multi-valued (at any field) in that we can tune the coexisting antiferromagnetic-insulating(AF-I) and the ferromagnetic-metallic(FM-M) phase-fractions by following different paths in (H,T) space. We have shown experimentally that the phase-fraction, in this two-phase coexistence, can take continuous infinity of values. All but one of these are metastable, and two-phase coexistence is not an equilibrium state.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2006

Coexisting tuneable fractions of glassy and equilibrium long-range-order phases in manganites

Antiferromagnetic-insulating(AF-I) and the ferromagnetic-metallic(FM-M) phases coexist in various half-doped manganites over a range of temperature and magnetic field, and this is often believed to be an essential ingredient to their colossal magnetoresistence. We present magnetization and resistivity measurements on Pr(0.5)Ca(0.5)Mn(0.975)Al(0.025)O(3) and Pr(0.5)Sr(0.5)MnO(3) showing that the fraction of the two coexisting phases at low-temperature in any specified measuring field H, can be continuously controlled by following designed protocols traversing field-temperature space; for both materials the FM-M fraction rises under similar cooling paths. Constant-field temperature variations however show that the former sample undergoes a 1st order transition from AF-I to FM-M with decreasing T, while the latter undergoes the reverse transition. We suggest that the observed path-dependent phase-separated states result from the low-T equilibrium phase coexisting with supercooled glass-like high temperature phase, where the low-T equilibrium phases are actually homogeneous FM-M and AF-I phases respectively for the two materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2006

Ferromagnetic ground state of the robust charge-ordered manganite Pr(0.5)Ca(0.5MnO(3)obtained by minimal Al-substitution

We show that minimal disturbance to the robust charge ordered Pr(0.5)Ca(0.5)MnO(3) by 2.5% Al substitution on Mn-site drives the system towards ferromagnetic ground state. The history-dependent coexisting phases observed are explained as an outcome of a hindered first order transition with glass like arrest of kinetics resulting in irreversibility. Consistent with a simple phase diagram having ferromagnetic ground state, it is experimentally shown that these coexisting phases are far from the equilibrium.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2006

Relating supercooling and glass-like arrest of kinetics for phase separated systems: studies on doped CeFe$_2$ and (La,Pr,Ca)MnO$_3$

Coexisting ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases over a range of temperature as well as magnetic field have been reported in many materials of current interest, showing disorder-broadened 1st order transitions. Anomalous history effects observed in magnetization and resistivity are being explained invoking the concepts of kinetic arrest akin to glass transitions. From magnetization measurements traversing novel paths in field-temperature space, we obtain the intriguing result that the regions of the sample which can be supercooled to lower temperatures undergo kinetic-arrest at higher temperatures, and vice versa. Our results are for two diverse systems viz. the inter-metallic doped CeFe$_2$ which has an antiferromagnetic ground state, and the oxide La-Pr-Ca-Mn-O which has a ferromagnetic ground state, indicating the possible universality of this effect of disorder on the widely encountered phenomenon of glass-like arrest of kinetics.

cond-mat.str-el↗