High-magnetic-field study of the phase transitions of R1-xCaxMnO3 (R = Pr, Nd)

We have investigated the magnetic-field-induced phase transitions of R1-xCaxMnO3 (R=Pr and Nd, x = 0.50, 0.45 and 0.50, 0.45, 0.40) by measurements of magnetization, magnetoresistance, and magnetostriction utilizing a nondestructive long-pulse magnet (generating up to 40 T). We observed processes where magnetic fields destroy the real-space ordering of the charge carriers and cause insulator-to-metal phase transitions over the whole temperature region below about 250 K. We found that the destruction of the charge ordering is accompanied with a structural phase transition as well as with the magnetic phase transition and the colossal magnetoresistance effect. The different profiles of the temperature vs transition field curve depending on the carrier concentration x may be ascribed to the difference in the entropy between the commensurate and the discommensurate charge-ordered state. It turned out that the stability of the charge-ordered state is strongly correlated with the colinear antiferromagnetic ordering of the localized Mn moments.