First order paramagnetic-ferromagnetic phase transition in Tb3+ doped La0.5Ca0.5MnO3 manganite

Effect of A-site disorder in half-doped La0.5Ca0.5MnO3 created by the substitution of Tb at La site is studied through temperature dependent neutron diffraction, resistivity, and magnetization on La0.375Tb0.125Ca0.5MnO3 (LTC) to identify the evolution of phases as a function of temperature and magnetic field. Contrary to the parent system, the paramagnetic (PM) to ferromagnetic (FM) transition is found to be of first order but becomes observable only in fields above 1 T. Absence of this transition in zero and low fields along with the observation of a very intriguing and irreversible M-H curve at low temperature raises the question about the ground state of the system. It is identified from the specially designed measurement protocol that the ground state of the system becomes FM, contrary to the parent LCMO. However, this remains masked because of the hindrance to the transformation kinetics of the PM-FM first order transition in low fields. Significantly, though the thermal hysteresis of the first order transition decreases with the measurement field, collapse of such a behavior to a critical point is not observed in LTC, unlike earlier observations in some other manganites. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.