Crystal growth, transport and magnetic properties of rare-earth manganite Pr1-xPbxMnO3

Crystal growth, electrical and magnetic properties are reported for mixed valence manganite Pr1-xPbxMnO3 (x = 0.2, 0.23, and 0.3). The crystals with x = 0.2 and 0.23 are ferromagnetic and insulating, whereas that with x = 0.3 is ferromagnetic below 200 K and shows an insulator-metal transition at 235 K. This composition shows a magnetoresistance of 90% in a field of 5 T. In the paramagnetic region, the temperature dependence of magnetic susceptibility of the crystals follows a Curie-Weiss behavior. The thermal evolution of magnetization in the ferromagnetic phase varies as T-3/2, in accordance with Bloch's law. The spin-stiffness constant D obtained from the Bloch constant is found to increase linearly with x. The magnetization does not reach complete saturation upto a field of 5 T. A possible contribution of the Pr spins to the total magnetic moment is discussed.

Magnetization and magnetoresistive response of LiMn2O4 near the charge ordering transition

We report magnetization and magnetoresistance studies of the geometrically frustrated spinel compound LiMn2O4 near its charge ordering temperature. The effect of a 7 T magnetic field is to very slightly shift the transition in the resistivity to lower temperatures resulting in large negative magnetoresistance with significant hysteresis. This hysteresis is not reflected in the magnetization. These observations are compared with what is found in the colossal magnetoresistance and charge ordering perovskite manganese oxides. The manner in which geometric frustration influences the coupling of charge and spin degrees of freedom is examined.

Elusive superconductivity in polycrystalline samples of layered lanthanum nickelates

La2-xNiO4, La2-xSrxNiO4 and related layered nickelates have been investigated for possible presence of superconductivity. While there is clear onset of diamagnetism around 20 K in many of these nickelates, we do not, however, find any anomaly in the electrical resistivity, magnetoresistance or thermopower around 20 K. High energy spectroscopic studies show Ni to be in the 2+ oxidation state accompanied by a substantial proportion of oxygen holes.

Giant planar Hall effect in pulsed laser deposited permalloy films

Ni80Fe20 thin films with high orientation were grown on Si(1 0 0) using pulsed laser ablation. The anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) and the planar Hall measurements show a 2.5% resistance anisotropy and a 45% planar Hall voltage change for magnetic field sweep of 10 Oe. The planar Hall sensitivity dR/dH was found to be 900 Omega T-1 compared with a previously reported maximum of 340 Omega T-1 in the same system.Also these films are found to withstand repeated thermal cycling up to 110 degrees C and the Hall sensitivity remains constant within this temperature range. This combination of properties makes the system highly suitable for low magnetic field sensors, particularly in geomagnetic and biosensor applications. To elucidate this, we have demonstrated that these sensors are sensitive to Earth's magnetic field. These results are compared with the sputter deposited films which have a very low AMR and planar Hall voltage change as compared with the films grown by PLD. The possible reasons for these contrasting characteristics are also discussed.

Magnetoresistors based on magnetic composite materials

Describes a new type of magnetoresistor based on magnetic composite material. This device exhibits a magnetoresistance which is comparable to that of conventional magnetoresistors but can be realised with a very low cost technology. The theoretical analysis of the magnetoresistance characteristics of this device is also described.

Annealing effect on transport properties of Nd0.67Sr0.33MnO3 thin films

Annealing dependence of the lattice parameter, resistivity, magnetoresistance and thermopower have been studied on Nd0.87Sr0.33MnO3 thin films deposited on LaAlO3 and alumina substrates by pulsed laser ablation. Upon annealing at 800 degrees C and 1000 degrees C the lattice constant of the LaAlO3 film tends toward that of the bulk target due to reduction in oxygen vacancies. This results in a metal-insulator transition at temperatures which increase with progressive annealing along with a decrease in the observed low temperature MR. Using a magnon scattering model we estimate the e(g) bandwidth of the film annealed at 1000 degrees C and show that the magnon contribution to the resistivity is suppressed in a highly oxygen deficient film and gains prominence only upon subsequent annealing. We also show that upon annealing, the polaron concentration and the spin cluster size increases in the paramagnetic phase, using an adiabatic polaron hopping model which takes into account an exchange dependent activation energy above the resistivity peak.

Thermoelectric properties of electrostatically tunable antidot lattices

We report on the fabrication and characterization of a device which allows the formation of an antidot lattice (ADL) using only electrostatic gating. The antidot potential and Fermi energy of the system can be tuned independently. Well defined commensurability features in magnetoresistance as well as magnetothermopower are observed. We show that the thermopower can be used to efficiently map out the potential landscape of the ADL. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. doi: 10.1063/1.3493268]

Field-tunable stochasticity in the magnetization reversal of a cylindrical nanomagnet

The nature of magnetization reversal in an isolated cylindrical nanomagnet has been studied employing time-resolved magnetoresistance measurement. We find that the reversal mode is highly stochastic, occurring either by multimode or single-step switching. Intriguingly, the stochasticity was found to depend on the alignment of the driving magnetic field to the long axis of the nanowires, where predominantly multimode switching gives way to single-step switching behavior as the field direction is rotated from parallel to transverse with respect to the nanowire axis.

A critical re-examination and a revised phase diagram of La1-xSrxCoO3

We report the results of a comprehensive study on dc magnetization, ac susceptibility, and the magnetotransport properties of the La1-xSrxCoO3(0 <= x <= 0.5) system. At higher Sr doping (x >= 0.18), the system exhibits Brillouin-like field cooled magnetization (M-FC). However, for x < 0.18, the system exhibits a kink in the M-FC, a peak at the intermediate field in the thermoremnant magnetization and a non-saturating tendency in the M-H plot that all point towards the characteristic of spin glass behavior. More interestingly, dc magnetization studies for x < 0.18 do not suggest the existence of ferromagnetic correlation that can give rise to an irreversible line in the spin glass regime. The ac susceptibility study for x > 0.2 exhibits apparently no frequency dependent peak shift around the ferromagnetic transition region. However, a feeble signature of glassiness is verified by studying the frequency dependent shoulder position in chi `' (T) and the memory effect below the Curie temperature. But, for x < 0.18, the ac susceptibility study exhibits a considerable frequency dependent peak shift, time dependent memory effect, and the characteristic spin relaxation time scale tau(0) similar to 10(-13) s. The reciprocal susceptibility versus temperature plot adheres to Curie-Weiss behavior and does not provide any signature of preformed ferromagnetic clusters well above the Curie temperature. The magnetotransport study reveals a cross over from metallic to semiconducting-like behavior for x <= 0.18. On the semiconducting side, the system exhibits a large value of magnetoresistance (upto 75%) towards low temperature and it is strongly connected to the spin dependent part of the random potential distribution in the spin glass phase. Based on the above observations, we have reconstructed a new magnetic phase diagram and characterized each phase with associated properties.

Growth and applications of superconducting and nonsuperconducting oxide epitaxial films

Growth and characterization of high-temperature-superconducting YBa2Cu3O7 and several metallic-oxide thin films by pulsed laser deposition is described here. An overview of substrates employed for epitaxial growth of perovskite-related oxides is presented. Ag-doped YBa2Cu3O7 films grown on bare sapphire are shown to give T-c = 90 K, critical current > 10(6) A/cm(2) at 77 K and surface resistance = 450 mu Omega. Application of epitaxial metallic LaNiO3 thin films as an electrode for ferroelectric oxide and as a normal metal layer barrier in the superconductor-normal metal-superconductor (SNS) Josephson junction is presented. Observation of giant magnetoresistance (GMR) in the metallic La0-6Pb0-4MnO3 thin films up to 50% is highlighted.

Preparation, Structural, and Electrical Studies of Polyaniline/ZnFe2O4 Nanocomposites

Polyaniline/ZnFe2O4 nanocomposites were synthesized by a simple and inexpensive one-step in situ polymerization method in the presence of ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles. The structural, morphological, and electrical properties of the samples were characterized by wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). WAXD and SEM revealed the formation of polyaniline/ZnFe2O4 nanocomposites. Infrared spectroscopy indicated that there was some interaction between the ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles and polyaniline. The dc electrical conductivity measurements were carried in the temperature range of 80 to 300 K. With increase in the doping concentration of ZnFe2O4, the conductivity of the nanocomposites found to be decreasing from 5.15 to 0.92 Scm(-1) and the temperature dependent resistivity follows ln rho(T) similar to T-1/2 behavior. The nanocomposites (80 wt % of ZnFe2O4) show a more negative magnetoresistance compared with that of pure polyaniline (PANI). These results suggest that the interaction between the polymer matrix PANI and zinc nanoparticles take place in these nanocomposites. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 120: 2856-2862, 2011

Electronic conduction in LaNiO3-delta: the dependence on the oxygen stoichiometry delta

We report a systematic study of the electronic transport properties of the metallic perovskite oxide LaNiO3-delta as a function of the oxygen stoichiometry delta (delta less than or equal to 0.14). The electrical resistivity, magnetoresistance, susceptibility, Hall effect and thermopower have been studied, All of the transport coefficients are dependent on the value of delta. The resistivity increases almost exponentially as delta increases. We relate this increase in rho to the creation of Ni2+ with square-planar coordination. We find that there is a distinct T-1.5-contribution to the resistivity over the whole temperature range. The thermopower is negative, as expected for systems with electrons as the carrier, but the Hall coefficient is positive. We have given a qualitative and quantitative explanation for the different quantities observed and their systematic variation with the stoichiometry delta.

Magnetic field-induced metal-insulator transitions in graphite and diluted magnetic semiconductors - Discussion

Two topical subjects related with the effect of magnetic field on electrical conduction and the metal-insulator transition are discussed. The first topic is an electronic phase transition in graphite, which is interpreted as a manifestation of a nestingtype instability inherent to a one-dimensional narrow Landau sub-band. The second topic is spin-dependent tranport in III-V based diluted magnetic semiconductors; in particular, a large negative magnetoresistance observed in the vicinity of metal-nonmetal transition.

Magnetism, charge ordering, and metal-insulator transition in the lanthanum manganites

We examine the magnetic and structural properties of the lanthanum manganite-based double-exchange magnets exhibiting colossal magnetoresistance. A model Hamiltonian containing the double-exchange, superexchange, and the Hubbard terms, with parameters obtained from density–functional calculations (Ref. 1), is studied within a mean-field approximation both at temperature T=0 and T>0 and with the effects of the magnetic field included. The phase diagrams we obtain with magnetic and charge-ordered phases enable us to examine the competition between the double- and superexchange terms as functions of doping and temperature. Our theoretical study provides a qualitative understanding of the phase diagram observed in the experiments. © 1997 American Institute of Physics.

Structural evolution and electronic properties of La1+xSr2-xMn2O7

A detailed study of the layered manganite La1+xSr2-xMn2O7 has been performed, establishing that within the composition range 0.1 less than or equal to x less than or equal to 0.45 the phases crystallize in the I4/mmm space group. The evolution of structural parameters with x: in this composition range has been followed using a novel application of an existing program for the Rietveld analysis of powder diffraction data. The structure, a familiar intergrowth of rock-salt (La,Sr)O slabs and double perovskite (La,Sr)(2)Mn2O6 units, is characterized by a reluctance to deform the latter. This manifests as a ''pumping'' of the larger Sr-II ion into the 12-coordinate site of the structure as x is increased. We report these features of the structure as well as electrical transport and magnetic properties, in light of recent observations of giant, negative magnetoresistance in these systems.