Effect of yttrium doping on magnetic and elastic properties of La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 single crystal

We report the effect of yttrium doping on magnetic and elastic properties of La0.80Sr0.20MnO3 single crystal. The sound velocity was found to be less in the Y doped sample in comparison with La0.80Sr0.20MnO3 single crystal. The yttrium doping reduces the Curie temperature but this reduction can be, however, significantly compensated by the formation of vacancies. Our data indicate that in the crystals there are Y-poor and Y-enriched regions, i.e. a specific phase separation takes place. The skewness of the distribution of the Curie temperatures can be appreciable. The yttrium doping suppresses the structural Pnma-R (3) over barc transition, so that the transition occurs only in the Y-poor regions, which occupy a small part of the volume of the manganites studied. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.