Metastable states in phase separated electron doped Sm0.15Ca0.85MnO3

In order to study the mechanism behind the phase separation scenario in the Sm0.15Ca0.85MnO3 compound, magnetization and resistivity measurements have been carried out in pulsed magnetic fields up to 50 T at temperatures 4.2 K<T<200 K. It is found that external magnetic field causes a collapse of a C-type AFM (P21/m) phase resulting in field-induced insulator–metal transition, which is irreversible below T1=75 K. In zero field the content of a G-type phase in the mixed C–G state can vary from 10 to 17% at T=10 K. A set of metastable states with different volume ratios of G-type to C-type phases is observed below T1 depending on the history of the sample. The obtained results indicate that the phase separation plays a dominant role for the electric and the magnetic properties of this material.