Conductance Switching and Inhomogeneous Field Melting in the Charge Ordered Manganites

TL;DR

This paper investigates how conductance switching in charge ordered manganites is influenced by metastability, inhomogeneous states, and disorder, using Monte Carlo simulations to replicate experimental phenomena and predict field-melted states.

Contribution

It introduces a disordered strong coupling model and demonstrates how phase proximity affects conductance switching and field melting in manganites.

Findings

Variation of switching fields with ionic radius and disorder is reproduced.

Experimental features explained by phase landscape proximity.

Prediction of the field melted state aligns with experimental evidence.

Abstract

The field induced switching of conductance in the charge ordered half-doped manganites is controlled by the combination of metastability, an inhomogeneous high field state, and cation disorder. We study this non-equilibrium problem via real space Monte Carlo on a disordered strong coupling model appropriate to the manganites. We reproduce the variation of the switching fields with the mean ionic radius r_A and cation disorder \sigma_A, and demonstrate how the experimental features arise from the proximity of several phases in the Landau free energy landscape. Our prediction for the field melted state is consistent with a growing body of experimental evidence.