Huge magnetoresistance and ultra-sharp metamagnetic transition in polycrystalline ${Sm_{0.5}Ca_{0.25}Sr_{0.25}MnO_3}$

TL;DR

This paper reports an unprecedented colossal magnetoresistance and ultra-sharp metamagnetic transition in a specific manganite compound, achieved by tuning phase competition, with implications for advanced spintronic devices.

Contribution

It demonstrates a record-high magnetoresistance in a manganite by controlling phase fractions, supported by model calculations and microscopy analysis.

Findings

Magnetoresistance reaches ~10^{13}% at 10 K in 30 kOe

Magnetoresistance reaches ~10^{15}% at 10 K in 90 kOe

Inhomogeneous disorder suppresses CE phase and promotes ferromagnetic metal

Abstract

Large magnetoresistive materials are of immense interest for a number of spintronic applications by developing high density magnetic memory devices, magnetic sensors and magnetic switches. Colossal magnetoresistance, for which resistivity changes several order of magnitude (${\sim10^4 \%}$) in an external magnetic field, occurs mainly in phase separated oxide materials, namely manganites, due to the phase competition between the ferromagnetic metallic and the antiferromagnetic insulating regions. Can one further enhance the magnetoresistance by tuning the volume fraction of the two phases? In this work, we report a huge colossal magnetoresistance along with the ultra-sharp metamagnetic transition in half doped ${Sm_{0.5}Ca_{0.25}Sr_{0.25}MnO_3}$ manganite compound by suitably tuning the volume fraction of the competing phases. The obtained magnetoresistance value at 10 K is as large as $\sim10^{13}\%$ in a 30 kOe external magnetic field and $\sim10^{15}\%$ in 90 kOe external magnetic field and is several orders of magnitude higher than any other observed magnetoresistance value reported so far. Using model Hamiltonian calculations we have shown that the inhomogeneous disorder, deduced from tunneling electron microscopy, suppresses the CE-type phase and seeds the ferromagnetic metal in an external magnetic field.