A negative isotropic magnetoresistance effect more than three orders of magnitude larger than the typical giant magnetoresistance of some superlattice films has been observed in thin oxide films of perovskite-like La0.67Ca0.33MnOx. Epitaxial films that are grown on LaAIO3 substrates by laser ablation and suitably heat treated exhibit magnetoresistance values as high as 127,000 percent near 77 kelvin and ∼1300 percent near room temperature. Such a phenomenon could be useful for various magnetic and electric device applications if the observed effects of material processing are optimized. Possible mechanisms for the observed effect are discussed.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/264/5157/413.full.pdf

Thousandfold Change in Resistivity in Magnetoresistive La-Ca-Mn-O Films

Dilute magnetic semiconductors and wide gap oxide semiconductors are appealing materials for magnetooptical devices. From a combinatorial screening approach looking at the solid solubility of transition metals in titanium dioxides and of their magnetic properties, we report on the observation of transparent ferromagnetism in cobalt-doped anatase thin films with the concentration of cobalt between 0 and 8%. Magnetic microscopy images reveal a magnetic domain structure in the films, indicating the existence of ferromagnetic long-range ordering. The materials remain ferromagnetic above room temperature with a magnetic moment of 0.32 Bohr magnetons per cobalt atom. The film is conductive and exhibits a positive magnetoresistance of 60% at 2 kelvin.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/291/5505/854.full.pdf

Room-Temperature Ferromagnetism in Transparent Transition Metal-Doped Titanium Dioxide

Colossal magnetoresistance—a huge decrease in resistance in response to a magnetic field—has recently been observed in manganese oxides with perovskite structure. This effect is attracting considerable interest from both fundamental and practical points of view1. In the context of using this effect in practical devices, a noteworthy feature of these materials is the high degree of spin polarization of the charge carriers, caused by the half-metallic nature of these materials20,21; this in principle allows spin-dependent carrier scattering processes, and hence the resistance, to be strongly influenced by low magnetic fields. This type of field control has been demonstrated for charge-carrier scattering at tunnelling junctions2,3 and at crystal-twin or ceramic grain boundaries4,5, although the operating temperature of such structures is still too low (⩽150 K) for most applications. Here we report a material—Sr2FeMoO6, an ordered double perovskite6—exhibiting intrinsic tunnelling-type magnetoresistance at room temperature. We explain the origin of this behaviour with electronic-structure calculations that indicate the material to be half-metallic. Our results show promise for the development of ordered perovskite magnetoresistive devices that are operable at room temperature.

Room-temperature magnetoresistance in an oxide material with an ordered double-perovskite structure

Some of the most relevant finite-size and surface effects in the magnetic and transport properties of magnetic fine particles and granular solids are reviewed. The stability of the particle magnetization, superparamagnetic regime and the magnetic relaxation are discussed. New phenomena appearing due to interparticle interactions, such as the collective state and non-equilibrium dynamics, are presented. Surface anisotropy and disorder, spin-wave excitations, as well as the enhancements of the coercive field and particle magnetization are also reviewed. The competition of surface and finite-size effects to settle the magnetic behaviour is addressed. Finally, two of the most relevant phenomena in the transport properties of granular solids are summarized namely, giant magnetoresistance in granular heterogeneous alloys and Coulomb gap in insulating granular solids.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0022-3727/35/6/201/pdf

Finite-size effects in fine particles: magnetic and transport properties

High temperature, solution phase reduction of cobalt chloride in the presence of stabilizing agents was employed to produce magnetic colloids (ferrofluids) of cobalt nanocrystals. We systematically synthesized and isolated nearly monodisperse nanocrystal samples ranging in size from 2 to 11 nm while maintaining better than a 7% std. dev. in diameter. As synthesized cobalt particles are each a single crystal with a complex cubic structure related to the beta phase of elemental manganese (e-Co). Annealing the nanocrystals at 300 °C converts them quantitatively to the more common hexagonal-close-packed crystal form. Deposition of these uniform cobalt particles on solid substrates by evaporation of the carrier solvent results in the spontaneous assembly of two-dimensional and three-dimensional magnetic superlattices (colloidal crystals). A combination of x-ray powder diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry were used to characterize both the d...

Synthesis of monodisperse cobalt nanocrystals and their assembly into magnetic superlattices (invited)

We have observed isotropic giant magnetoresistance (GMR) in nonmultilayer magnetic systems using granular magnetic solids. We show that GMR occurs in magnetically inhomogeneous media containing nonaligned ferromagnetic entities on a microscopic scale. The GMR is determined by the orientations of the magnetization axes, the density, and the size of the ferromagnetic entities.

Giant magnetoresistance in nonmultilayer magnetic systems.

Giant negative magnetoresistance (GMR) has been observed in a number of granular ferromagnetic systems [Co–Ag, Co–Cu, Fe–Cu, Fe–Ag, and (Fe–Ni)–Ag] with effect sizes as much as 85% at 5 K and 25% at 300 K. It is shown that the GMR is isotropic and is due to magnetic scattering of the conduction electrons by the nonaligned magnetic entities. The essential contribution to the resistivity is ρm[1−F(M/Ms)], where F(M/Ms) measures the spin disorder from ferromagnetic alignment and ρm is the magnetic resistivity that defines the size of the GMR. The magnitude of GMR is affected by the size and density of the magnetic entities which can be controlled by varying the composition and the process conditions. When the composition is varied, the maximum GMR is realized in systems with magnetic constituents of about 25%.

Giant negative magnetoresistance in granular ferromagnetic systems (invited)

We have studied the magnetotransport properties of a new metallic granular Co-Ag system. The spin-dependent electron scattering is revealed in the forms of a giant magnetoresistance and an extraordinary Hall effect, both of which are found to be strongly dependent on the Co particle size and the electron mean free path. The experimental correlation ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\rho}}}_{\mathit{x}\mathit{y}}$\ensuremath{\propto}${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\rho}}}_{\mathit{x}\mathit{x}}^{3.7}$ uncovered is unexpected from existing theories. Interfacial scatterings of intermediate range are required in order to account for the anomalous magnetotransport in this magnetic granular system.

Extraordinary Hall effect and giant magnetoresistance in the granular Co-Ag system.

We report giant magnetoresistance (GMR) as much as 75% at 5 K and 24% at room temperature in granular Co-Ag. We show that the GMR is isotropic and is the consequence of the departure from ferromagnetic alignment of the Co particles. We have also determined the resistivity component responsible for GMR and its temperature dependence.

Giant magnetoresistance in the granular Co-Ag system.

We report the first results of magnetic properties and giant magnetoresistance of granular permalloy in a metallic matrix. These new materials have resistivities comparable to those of the ferromagnetic alloys currently used in magnetoresistive devices, but yield significantly larger magnetoresistance effects that are nearly isotropic.

J. Samuel Jiang

Papers

Giant magnetoresistance in nonmultilayer magnetic systems.

Giant negative magnetoresistance in granular ferromagnetic systems (invited)

Extraordinary Hall effect and giant magnetoresistance in the granular Co-Ag system.

Giant magnetoresistance in the granular Co-Ag system.

Magnetic properties and giant magnetoresistance of granular permalloy in silver