Eur. Phys. J. B 38, 553-557 (2004)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2004-00151-8

Effect of rare earth ion substitution on the magnetic and transport properties of Pr_0.7RE_0.04Sr_0.26MnO₃ (RE = Er³⁺, Tb³⁺ and Ho³⁺)

¹ Materials Science Research Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai – 600 036, India
² Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai – 600 036, India
³ Walther-Meissner-Institute, Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Walther-Meissner Str. 8, 85748, Garching, Germany

Corresponding authors: ^a rama@physics.iitm.ac.in - ^b msrrao@iitm.ac.in

Received: 7 March 2003
Revised: 4 February 2004
Published online: 8 June 2004

Abstract

The effect of rare earth ion (RE = Er³⁺, Tb³⁺, Ho³⁺) substitution in Pr_0.74Sr_0.26MnO₃ (PSMO(0.26)) on the magnetic and transport properties is reported. It is found that even for a small concentration of substitution of Pr³⁺ ions by Er³⁺, Tb³⁺, or Ho³⁺ ions there is a significant change in the transport and magnetic properties compared to the parent compound Pr_0.74Sr_0.26MnO₃. The observed changes are attributed to the increase in the average A-site disorder upon substituting smaller ions (ionic radius of Er³⁺ = 1.062 Å, Ho³⁺ = 1.072 Å, Tb³⁺ = 1.095 Å) in place of bigger Pr³⁺ ion (ionic radius = 1.179 Å). The Ho³⁺ substituted sample was found to behave anomalously when compared to the other two rare earth ion-substituted (Tb³⁺ and Er³⁺ samples. Such anomalous behaviour could most likely be caused by the magnetic coupling of the Ho and Mn ions.