The electrical current effect in phase separated La5/8-yPryCa3/8MnO3: Charge order melting vs. Joule heating

TL;DR

This study investigates how electric current affects the transport properties of La5/8-yPryCa3/8MnO3, revealing that resistivity changes are primarily due to Joule heating rather than charge order melting.

Contribution

It challenges the common assumption that electric current melts charge order in this manganite, attributing resistivity drops to Joule heating effects instead.

Findings

Resistivity drop explained by Joule heating artifacts.

Charge order melting by electric current is not supported.

Hysteresis behavior is linked to Joule heating effects.

Abstract

We have studied the effect of electric field on transport properties of the prototypical phase separated manganite La5/8-yPryCa3/8MnO3 with y=0.34. Our results show that the suggested image in which the charge ordered state is melted by the appliance of an electric current and/or voltage has to be revised. We were able to explain the observed resistivity drop in terms of an artifact related to Joule heating and the particular hysteresis that the system under study display, common to many other phase separated manganites.