Ultraslow polaron dynamics in low-doped manganites from (139)La NMR-NQR and muon spin rotation.

We report a (139)La NMR investigation of low-doped insulating manganite samples (LaMnO(3+delta) and La(1-y)Ca(y)MnO(3+delta)) as a function of temperature. A volume fraction with fast nuclear relaxations was revealed by the inhomogeneous loss of the NMR signal over a broad temperature interval. Comparison with muon spin rotation data demonstrates that the wipeout of the (139)La signal is mainly due to slowly fluctuating electric field gradients. This provides strong evidence for the slow diffusion of lattice excitations, identified with Jahn-Teller small polarons.