Critical behavior of La0.7Ca0.3Mn1−xNixO3 manganites exhibiting the crossover of first- and second-order phase transitions

We used Banerjee's criteria, modified Arrott plots, and the scaling hypothesis to analyze magnetic-field dependences of magnetization near the ferromagnetic-paramagnetic (FM-PM) phase-transition temperature (TC) of perovskite-type manganites La0.7Ca0.3Mn1−xNixO3 (x=0.09, 0.12 and 0.15). In the FM region, experimental results for the critical exponent β (=0.171 and 0.262 for x=0.09 and 0.12, respectively) reveal two first samples exhibiting tricriticality associated with the crossover of first- and second-order phase transitions. Increasing Ni-doping content leads to the shift of the β value (=0.320 for x=0.15) towards that expected for the 3D Ising model (β=0.325). This is due to the fact that the substitution of Ni ions into the Mn site changes structural parameters and dilutes the FM phase, which act as fluctuations and influence the FM-interaction strength of double-exchange Mn3+-Mn4+ pairs, and the phase-transition type. For the critical exponent γ (=0.976-0.990), the stability in its value demonstrates the PM behavior above TC of the samples. Particularly, around TC of La0.7Ca0.3Mn1−xNixO3 compounds, magnetic-field dependences of the maximum magnetic-entropy change can be described by a power law of |ΔSmax|∝Hn, where values n=0.55-0.77 are quite far from those (n=0.33-0.48) calculated from the theoretical relation n=1+(β−1)/(β+γ). This difference is related to the use of the mean-field theory for the samples exhibiting the magnetic inhomogeneity.