Staircase-like metamagnetic transitions in phase-separated manganites: Influence of thermal and mechanical treatments

Substitutions in the Mn sublattice of antiferromagnetic, charge, and orbitally ordered manganites was recently found to produce intriguing metamagnetic transitions consisting of a succession of sharp magnetization steps separated by plateaus. The compounds exhibiting such features can be divided into two categories, depending on whether they are sensitive to thermal cycling effects or not. One compound in each category has been considered in the present study. This article reports on the influence of two treatments: high-temperature annealing and grinding. It is shown that both of these treatments can dramatically affect the phenomenon of magnetization steps. The results provide us with information about the origin of these jumps in magnetization.