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PHYS07200604007 Manas Kumar Dala - Homi Bhabha National ...

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Synopsis<br />

The perovskite type manganites having general formula R 1−x A x MnO 3 (where R is a<br />

trivalent rare earth element like La, Pr, Nd. and A is a divalent alkaline earth element<br />

like Sr, Ca, Ba.) have been one of the interesting compounds among the transition<br />

metal oxide systems due to their important physical property such as colossal magnetoresistance<br />

(CMR) [1, 2, 3, 4]. CMR is defined as the colossal decrease of resistance<br />

by the application of magnetic field. These materials are insulators at high temperatures<br />

and poor metals at low temperatures. Accompanying this insulator-metal<br />

transition is a magnetic transition from a high temperature paramagnetic phase to a<br />

low temperature ferromagnetic phase. These transitions occurs around the same transition<br />

temperature T C . Applying a magnetic field around T C will greatly reduce the<br />

resistivity, i.e negative magnetoresistance effect. These materials were first described<br />

in 1950 by Jonker and van Santen [5] in perovskite type of manganites. One year later<br />

(1951), Zener [6, 7] explained this unusual correlation between magnetism and transport<br />

properties by introducing a novel concept called ”Double exchange” mechanism<br />

(DE). The pioneering work of Zener was followed by Anderson and Hasegawa [8] in<br />

1955 and de Gennes [9] in 1960. Double exchange theory argues that the electron<br />

hoping is related to the relative spin orientations of the neighbouring sites. Although<br />

it qualitatively explains the connection between the insulator-metal and the magnetic<br />

transitions, it was noticed latter by A. J. Millis et. al. [10] that it fails to explain<br />

the quantitative change in resistivity and the very low T C . Thus it is revealed that<br />

the double-exchange mechanism is not enough to explain the CMR effect. Several<br />

mechanisms [11, 12, 13, 14], based on electron-phonon interactions (the polaronic<br />

effect), electronic phase separation, charge and/or orbital ordering etc. have been<br />

proposed to account for the discrepancy. Although a detailed picture is still unclear,<br />

there seems to be a growing consensus that one or more of these additional effects<br />

probably exists, with the various phenomena both competing and cooperating with<br />

each other. This leads to a very rich and exotic behaviour, as observed in these<br />

ix

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