Instability stemming from the phase competition in Nd0.5Sr0.45Ca0.05MnO3

The magnetic phase transition and insulator-metal phase transition in charge ordering Nd0.50Sr0.45Ca0.05MnO3 system have been studied. As the temperature decreases below 100 K, the antiferromagnetic coupling becomes stronger but the ferromagnetic phase basically remains unchanged. At low temperature, the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases coexist in the system. From the measurement of magnetization and resistance with thermal cycling, a considerable instability is observed at 70⩽T⩽160K. The phase competition is responsible for the presence of instability.