Giant magnetostructural coupling in Gd2/3Ca 1/3MnO3

We report high magnetic field magnetostructural studies on Gd 2/3Ca1/3MnO3 single crystals. A giant linear magnetostrictive effect is observed in a wide temperature range (T < 120 K). Above 25 K a large hysteresis is seen reflecting the Mn magnetic moments ordering. At lower temperature (T < 15 K), a rather complicated field dependence arising from the competition between the Mn and Gd magnetic sublattices is observed. The relevance of the Gd ions in the low temperature behavior is further corroborated by specific heat experiments. © 2009 IOP Publishing Ltd.Fil:Jorge, G. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina