Insulator-metal transition and giant magnetoresistance inLa1−xSrxMnO3

Abstract

Insulator-metal phenomena depending on band filling (doping degree), temperature, and external magnetic field have been investigated for prototypical double-exchange ferromagnets, namely, crystals of ${\mathrm{La}}_{1\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}\mathit{x}}$${\mathrm{Sr}}_{\mathit{x}}$${\mathrm{MnO}}_{3}$ (0\ensuremath{\le}x\ensuremath{\le}0.6). The electronic phase diagram in the plane of the temperature vs nominal hole concentration (x) has been deduced from the magnetic and electrical measurements on the melt-grown crystals. Around the ferromagnetic transition temperature ${\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{C}}$, large negative magnetoresistance was observed. Irrespective of temperature, reduction of the resistivity is scaled with the field-induced magnetization (M) as -\ensuremath{\Delta}\ensuremath{\rho}/\ensuremath{\rho}=C(M/${\mathit{M}}_{\mathit{s}}$${)}^{2}$ for M/${\mathit{M}}_{\mathit{s}}$\ensuremath{\lesssim}0.3, where ${\mathit{M}}_{\mathit{s}}$ is the saturated magnetization. The coefficient C strongly depends on x, i.e., C\ensuremath{\approxeq}4 near the compositional insulator-metal phase boundary (${\mathit{x}}_{\mathit{c}}$\ensuremath{\sim}0.17), but decreases down to \ensuremath{\approxeq}1 for x>=0.4, indicating the critical change of the electronic state.