, a possible multiferroic candidate*

Manganese oxides have experienced a considerable increase in research interest due to their rich and complex phase diagrams. Ca-Mn-O is an excellent example, whose rich phase diagram contains phases that have been theoretically predicted to be multiferroic and CaMn₂O₄ to date is still not well understood and a hopeful candidate. Polycrystalline samples were synthesized and annealed with two different growth environments to further investigate the effect of oxygen deficiencies. Therefore, argon as well as oxygen gas flows were utilized. From initial dc magnetization and C_p measurements, the previously report T_N ~ 220 K was observed for both samples. However, a spontaneous polarization (P_S) was observed at ~ 253 K for the oxygen annealed sample with no applied field while no P_S was observed up to 7 T and temperatures down to 2 K for the argon annealed sample. Anomalies above 260 K were detected in both samples, which were not only time-, but also field-dependent. Measurements are ongoing to gain greater insight into this complex system.