Surface spin-glass and exchange bias in Sr2FeMoO6 nanoparticle

Abstract

Tunneling magnetoresistance in polycrystalline double perovskite Sr2FeMoO6 exhibits many unusual features, which can be efficiently probed by manipulating the tunnel barriers/grain surfaces. Accordingly, many experimental reports appeared on nanosized particles of Sr2FeMoO6 with largely enhanced grain boundary contributions. However, for the first time we report the existence of a spin-glasslike component, along with conventional ferromagnetism, in well-characterized Sr2FeMoO6 nanoparticles, which has been critically confirmed by the perceptible exchange bias effect, observed in these nanoparticles. Our results suggest that the spin-glass component is likely to reside on the surface of each particle, which probably provides useful clues about the unusual tunneling magnetoresistance responses, always exhibited by nanocrystalline Sr2FeMoO6.