Influence of spin glass-like magnetic relaxation on the zero-field-cooled exchange bias effect

The zero-field-cooled exchange bias (ZEB) effect is a remarkable phenomenon recently reported for some reentrant spin glass-like compounds. In this work, the time evolution of magnetization is thoroughly investigated for two ZEB materials in order to figure out the role played by the spin glass-like phase on such effect. La1.5Sr0.5CoMnO6 and La1.5Ca0.5CoMnO6 were chosen as representative samples of ZEB systems, since the former compound presents the largest ZEB reported so far, while the second has a much smaller effect, despite being structurally/chemically similar. Comprehensive magnetic measurements were carried on both samples, and the results are discussed in terms of the amount and time evolution of the spin glass-like phase under the influence of a varying field. We also propose a phenomenological model, based on the pinning of spin glass-like moments and on the dynamics of their magnetic relaxation, to explain the asymmetry observed in the hysteresis loops. The good agreement between the simulated and experimental results confirms our hypothesis that the spin glass-like phase is key to the ZEB effect.