Magnetic properties of La1-xSrxCoO3 (x=0.15 and 0.3)

Neutron diffraction, transversal field muSR and magnetization studies of La1-xSrxCoO3 with x = 0.15 and 0.3 has been performed. Long-range ferromagnetic ordering has been found only in the x = 0.3 sample. Magnetization measurements indicate the inhomogeneous magnetic state of this system. Magnetization data confirm well defined long-range ordering for the x = 0.3 sample with T-c approximate to 220 K, whereas for the x = 0.15 compound this temperature marks the onset of magnetic order within ferromagnetic clusters. muSR data confirm that the transition in the ferromagnetic phase takes place in the large fraction of the x = 0.3 sample, but not in all of the volume. This data also provide evidence for the absence of long-range magnetic ordering for the x = 0.15 sample and show that even short-range ordering takes place only in part of the sample volume. Thus, all these data are in agreement with the phase separation scenario of the concentration phase transition in cobaltites.