Giant magnetoresistance in Ce-doped manganite systems

Abstract

The fascinating properties like giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect, metal-insulator transition, charge ordering phenomenon etc. have made the divalent ion doped RMnO₃ (R = rare-earth elements) an attractive system for investigation. Resistivity of these compounds shows a peak near the ferromagnetic transition temperature (T _c ). The application of magnetic field inhibits the spin-disorder scattering and the resistivity decreases drastically. Keeping electrondoped superconductor Nd_2−x Ce _x CuO₄ in mind we have doped RMnO₃ (R = La, Pr, Nd) with tetravalent Ce ion. These compounds are very susceptible to the annealing treatment and belong to the orthorhombic perovskite phase. They show a very high value of resistivity at the peak and under the magnetic field the GMR effect is observed. For La_0.7Ce_0.3MnO₃ and Pr_0.7Ce_0.3MnO₃ the magnetoresistance ratio reaches about 54% and 82.5% respectively at 7.7 T. With the increase of the temperature the magnetic state changes from ferromagnetic to paramagnetic regime. This magnetic transition is not very sharp and the resistivity peak appears at a temperature higher than T _c .