Field Induced Transition from Metal to Insulator in the CMR Manganites

TL;DR

This paper investigates a first order phase transition from ferromagnetic metal to insulator in CMR manganites, revealing how magnetic fields induce large resistivity changes near the transition temperature through detailed neutron and X-ray studies.

Contribution

It reports the discovery of a first order transition in La0.88Sr0.12MnO3 and provides detailed experimental insights into the phase change mechanism.

Findings

First order transition from ferromagnetic metal to insulator observed.

Resistivity increases dramatically near the transition temperature under magnetic field.

Neutron and X-ray scattering confirm the phase transition details.

Abstract

The gigantic reduction of the electric resistivity under the applied magnetic field, CMR effect, is now widely accepted to appear in the vicinity of the insulator to metal transition of the perovskite manganites. Recently, we have discovered the first order transition from ferromagnetic metal to insulator in $\rm La_{0.88}Sr_{0.12}MnO_3$ of the CMR manganite. This phase transition induces the tremendous increase of the resistivity under the external magnetic field just near above the phase transition temperature. We report here fairly detailed results from the systematic experiments including neutron and synchrotron X-ray scattering studies.