arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to E. Rozenberg.
In this communication the enhancement of low temperature magnetoresistance in polycrystalline La1-xCaxMnO3 manganites is discussed. It is shown that so-called grain boundary effects seem to be the simplest and natural explanation of this phenomenon.
In a recent paper (Michalopolou A., Syskakis E. and Papastaikoudis C., 2001 J. Phys.: Cond. Mat. 13, 11615) the authors reported on the measurements of electrical resistivity and specific heat at zero magnetic field carried out on polycrystalline non-stoichiometric La_{0.95-x}Sr_{x}MnO_{3} manganites.In particular, they attributed the low temperature behavior of resistivity (shallow minimum and slight upturn at lowest temperatures) to 3D electron-electron interaction enhanced by disorder, using results of numerical fittings of the dependencies of resistivity on temperature in the interval 4.2 -- 40 K. We argue that such an analysis may be not valid for polycrystalline manganites where relatively strong grain boundary effects might mask weak contribution of quantum effects to low temperature resistivity. The crucial test of applicability of the theory of quantum corrections to conductivity in this case is the resistive measurements under non-zero magnetic field.
Measurements of magnetoresistance and magnetization were carried out on ceramic samples of La_{0.5}Pb_{0.5}MnO_{3} and La_{0.5}Pb_{0.5}MnO_{3}, containing 10 at. % Ag in a dispersed form. The results obtained for the resistivity at zero applied magnetic field exhibit a shallow minimum at temperatures T about 25 K - 30 K, which shifts towards lower temperatures upon applying magnetic field and disappears at a certain (rather low) field. Also the resistivity at helium temperature decreases upon applying magnetic fields. It is shown that the model of spin-dependent carrier tunneling between antiferromagnetically coupled grains may account for the results observed.