Inhomogeneous magnetism in single crystalline Sr 3 CuIrO 6+δ : Implications to phase-separation concepts
Abstract
The single crystalline form of an insulator, Sr
3
CuIrO
6+δ
, is shown to exhibit unexpectedly more than one magnetic transition (at 5 and 19 K) with spin-glass-like magnetic susceptibility behaviour. On the basis of this finding, viz., inhomogeneous magnetism in a chemically homogeneous material, we propose that the idea of "phase- separation" described for manganites [1] is more widespread in different ways. The observed experimental features enable us to make a comparison with the predictions of a recent toy model [2] on {\it magnetic} phase separation in an insulating environment.