Phase-segregated glass formation linked to freezing of structural interface motion

Abstract

A potentially new kind of glass transition may exist among phase-separated regions in ${\text{La}}_{0.215}{\text{Pr}}_{0.41}{\text{Ca}}_{3/8}{\text{MnO}}_{3}$. We have observed a very large damping of ultrasonic waves in the dynamically phase-segregated state of this material. This damping is connected to the motion of structural interfaces at megahertz frequencies, which is a much faster time scale than that of magnetic relaxation effects. At lower temperatures, the dynamics of the phase-separated state freeze at the glass transition. Our observations link the onset of this freezing to a sudden decrease in mobility of interfaces between structurally dissimilar phase-segregated regions.