Origin of the Downturn in Inverse Susceptibility Observed above the Curie Temperature in Perovskite Manganites

The measurement of low-field susceptibility X as a function of temperature T for La_2/3Ca_1/3MnO₃ shows a significant downturn in 1/X (T) above the Curie temperature T_C, a behaviour generally observed in perovskite manganites. Such a downturn is argued to be due to the segregation of ferromagnetic clusters with larger spins in the paramagnetic matrix. Based on this consideration, a phenomenological expression for X(T) is proposed, in which the total susceptibility is assumed to be a sum of two susceptibilities arising from magnetic entities in the PM background and the FM clusters with T-dependent effective spins, respectively. The result is in good agreement with the experimental data obtained in La_2/3Ca_1/3MnO₃.