Magnetotransport in doped manganate perovskites (invited) (abstract)

Abstract

Recent progress in oxide perovskite thin-film technology has led to the discovery of a large negative magnetoresistance at room temperature in the doped manganate perovskite thin films. For applications such as magnetic-field sensing, the saturation magnetic field for large magnetoresistance has to be significantly lowered. The magnetic and transport properties of the doped manganates involve a curious magnetic-field scale, on the order of 1–10 T. Upon the application of a field on this scale, the magnetoresistance saturates, and a significant broadening of the temperature-dependent magnetization is seen. An understanding of the materials physics that underlie such behavior can point to new ways of lowering the saturation field in this class of materials. We argue that this characteristic field is suggestive of an inhomogeneous magnetic state in the system. We will discuss the basic phenomena and physics of magnetotransport in this class of materials. We will also report the successful fabrication of a trilayer thin-film pillar structure made using the doped manganate perovskites in which a magnetoresistance change by about a factor of 2 was observed at temperatures below 100 K in a field less than 200 Oe, proving that large magnetoresistance in low field can be obtained in these materials.