Strain Effects

To understand the effect of biaxial strain on the electrical and magnetic properties of manganites we have studied of thin films of La_0.67Ca_0.33MnO₃. We observe that manganite films grown under biaxial compressive strain exhibit island growth morphology, which leads to a non-uniform distribution of the strain. Transport and magnetic properties of these films suggest the coexistence of two different phases, a metallic ferromagnet and an insulating antiferromagnet. We suggest that the high strain regions are insulating while the low strain regions are metallic. In such non-uniformly strained samples, we observe a large magnetoresistance and a field-induced insulator to metal transition, which suggests that the insulating phase is charge-ordered.

Link to nugget with data and published papers

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