Neutron scattering study of the competing magnetic correlations in La0.85Sr0.15CoO3

The nature of the competing ferromagnetic and incommensurate spin correlations in the spin-glass phase of La0.85Sr0.15CoO3 has been investigated by various neutron scattering techniques. Spin-polarized scattering indicates that the observed incommensurate peaks are dominantly magnetic in nature. Magnetic field experiments show that a field applied perpendicular to the short-range ordering wave vector destroys the incommensurate correlations and induces long-range ferromagnetic order. However, even for fields up to 7 T, short-range ferromagnetic correlations still coexist with the long-range ordered regions.