Superparamagnetic Properties of LaBaCoO3
Superparamagnetic Properties of LaBaCoO3
Superparamagnetic Properties of LaBaCoO3
a r t i c l e in f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history:
Received 20 May 2008
Available online 30 November 2008
The static and dynamic magnetic properties of La1xBaxCoO3 (0oxo0.18) (LBCO) have been investigated
by the dc and ac susceptibility measurements systematically. The spin-glass-like characteristics of
magnetic behavior, which are always considered as an evidence of spin glasses for La1xSrxCoO3
(0oxo0.18) (LSCO), have been observed. However, just like that of LSCO, some magnetic behaviors,
which are different from the canonical spin-glass characteristics, for example, the difference far above
peak temperature Tp of zero-eld-cooled curve between eld-cooled magnetization (FCM) and zeroFCM (ZFCM) and the very broad peaks in the samples for x40.10, are also observed simultaneously.
Based on the comparisons with canonical spin-glass Au96Fe4 alloy and conventional superparamagnetic
(SPM) Cu97Co3 alloy, the nature of the magnetic behaviors in LBCO is ascribed to the superparamagnetic
cluster rather than spin glass. Though the magnetic properties behave as SPM, LBCO has one critical
point different from that of the conventional SPM Cu97Co3 alloy. The segregated Co nanoparticles in the
Cu97Co3 alloy are isolated by nonmagnetic background while the clusters in LBCO are embedded in an
antiferromagnetic matrix. The SPM behavior of LBCO can only exist at low temperature because the
antiferromagnetic matrix transfers to paramagnetic phase at Neel temperature TN and the SPM cluster
turns into ferromagnetic (FM) above TN.
& 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Superparamagnetic
Spin glass
ac Susceptibility
Perovskite cobaltite
1. Introduction
The system of perovskite cobaltites oxides is very interesting
not only for the spin-state transition [13] and metalinsulator
transition [46] but also for the spin-glass-like behavior [79].
The pioneering studies on the magnetic behavior of La1xSrxCoO3
reveal that there is a transition from spin glass to cluster glass at
the magnetic percolation threshold x 0.18 [57]. For the cluster
glass region (xX0.18), the coexistence of ferromagnetic and glassy
behavior was conrmed [8]. For example, the dc magnetization of
La0.5Sr0.5CoO3 shows a Brillouin-like temperature dependence
below TC and the magnetization is time dependent at low
temperature. The samples in the range 0.0oxo0.18 were
considered as spin glasses for the cusp at the spin-glass freezing
temperature Tg in zero-eld-cooled magnetization (ZFCM) curves
and the aging behavior from long-time relaxation below Tg [57].
These magnetic behaviors could be interpreted in spin-glass
mechanism successfully but some other behaviors are far different
from the canonical spin glass such as the difference far above the
peak temperature (Tp) between eld-cooled magnetization (FCM)
and zero-FCM (ZFCM) and the very broad peaks in the samples for
x40.10. Indeed, other studies [10,11] on the spin-glass system of
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that the light-doped perovskite cobaltites should be superparamagnetic cluster rather than spin glass. For this reason, the
nature of the magnetic properties in the system of divalent ionsdoped perovskite cobaltite is denitely worthwhile to be claried.
Ba2+ has larger ionic radius [20] and it can introduce holes into
CoO bonds as Sr2+ or Ca2+ does. Unfortunately, however, there are
only a few studies [2124] about La1xBaxCoO3 and most of them
are focused on the transport properties. In the present work, the
magnetic properties of La1xBaxCoO3 (0.0oxo0.18) are investigated in detail. The static and dynamic properties have been
discussed based on the dc magnetization and ac susceptibility
measurements.
2. Experiments
Polycrystalline samples of La1xBaxCoO3 (LBCO) in the range
of 0.0oxo0.18 were fabricated from La2O3, BaCO3 and Co3O4
starting materials by the standard solid-state reaction method
and X-ray powder diffraction conrmed that the samples were in
high purity [25]. dc Magnetization as a function of temperature
and external magnetic eld was derived using a SQUID magnetometer (Quantum Design MPMS-7). These temperature-dependent data were taken on heating under an external eld of 100 Oe
after cooling in the zero-magnetic eld or in a eld of 100 Oe. ac
Susceptibilities at different frequencies in the range from 33 to
9999 Hz were taken in a commercial device physical properties
measurement system (PPMS).
Fig. 1. Temperature dependence of the FC and the ZFC susceptibility (M/H) for
x 0.03 measured at H 100 Oe. ZFC data are shown as open symbols, whereas
FC data are shown as solid symbols. Inset shows the inverse of ZFC susceptibility,
and the solid line represents a t to the CurieWeiss law.
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3.2. ac Susceptibility
Previous theoretical and experimental works [1219,2831] on
the spin glasses and SPM clusters conrmed that detailed study
of the ac susceptibility corresponding to eld and frequency
Fig. 5. The temperature dependence of the in-phase ac susceptibility for the
compounds of (a) x 0.03, (b) x 0.05 and (c) x 0.08, at different frequencies in
the range 339999 Hz.
Tf Tg
t
/
Tg
t0
zn
(1)
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Fig. 7. The best t of Tf(o) data extracted from the ac susceptibility measurements
to Eq. (1) for (a) x 0.03, (b) x 0.05 and (c) x 0.08.
wsp
m2s V
3kB T
(2)
wbl
m2s
,
3K u
(3)
KuV
,
kB ln1=ot0
(4)
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Acknowledgement
This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of
China (Contract no. 10375088).
References
Fig. 8. The temperature dependence of ac susceptibility measured at an ac eld of
10 Oe, 33 Hz for the samples of LBCO.
4. Conclusion
The static and dynamic magnetic properties of La1xBaxCoO3
(0.0oxo0.18) have been investigated. Based on the comparisons
with the canonical spin-glass Au96Fe4 and the conventional SPM
Cu97Co3, the nature of magnetic behaviors in LBCO is ascribed to
the SPM clusters rather than spin glasses. This result indirectly
supports that the system of low-doped LBCO separates into
hole-rich ferromagnetic clusters, which is dominated by the
ferromagnetic double exchange interaction between Co3+ and