Spin dynamics in La_1−xSr_xCoO₃

The spin dynamics of Sr-doped cobaltite La_1−xSr_xCoO₃(x = 0.14 and x = 0.4) has been investigated in both zero magnetic field and high field by NMR. The results are consistent with microscopically phase-separated regions of ferromagnetic and nonferromagnetic materials. Nuclear spin-lattice and spin-spin relaxation in the ferromagnetic regions is attributed to fluctuating hyperfine fields produced by double exchange between Co ions. The linear temperature dependence of the correlation time, obtained from the data analysis, suggests that lattice excitations modify the double-exchange process as the temperature is raised. In the nonferromagnetic regions, a distribution of nuclear spin-lattice relaxation times is found. It is likely that low-frequency fluctuating localized moments, such as small spin clusters, in spin-glass regions provide the relaxation mechanism for both the spin-glass and low-spin(S = 0) regions. A simple model involving these ideas can account for the stretched exponential nuclear magnetization recovery in the nonferromagnetic regions, and permits an estimate to be made of the mean size of low-spin regions.