Current-induced persistent magnetization in a relaxorlike manganite

A single crystal of 7% Fe-doped (La(0.7)Pr(0.3))(0.65)Ca(0.35)MnO(3) shows up as a typical relaxor ferromagnet, where ferromagnetic metallic (FM) and charge-orbital-ordered insulating clusters coexist with controllable volume fraction by external stimuli. There, the persistent FM state can be produced by an electric-current excitation as the filamentary region, the magnetization in which is increased by similar to 0.4 mu(B) per Mn. A clear distinction from the current heating effect in a magnetic field, which conversely leads to a decrease in FM fraction, enables us to bidirectionally switch both the magnetization and resistance by applying the voltages with different magnitudes. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics.