NMR probe of phase separation in lightly doped manganites

Abstract The 55 Mn NMR spectra in an ordered state in a local field and the static magnetic susceptibility were measured for the polycrystalline (LaMn) 1–2 x O 3 ( x =0, 0.03) samples with different concentrations of vacancies in the cation sublattice. It is shown that microscopic regions with a different magnetic structure and manganese valence state (4+) are formed near vacancies in the antiferromagnetic matrix corresponding to the stoichiometric LaMnO 3. The relative volume of these regions and their average size (∼40 A) were estimated from an analysis of the 55 Mn NMR spectra.