The crucial role of mixed valence in the magnetoresistance properties of manganites and cobaltites.
The mixed valence Mn3+/Mn4+ and Co3+/Co4+ in manganites and cobaltites with the perovskite structure is absolutely necessary for the appearance of magnetotransport properties. It is shown that in these systems the Jahn Teller effect of the transition element, the charge and orbital ordering and the oxygen stoichiometry play a key role in the appearance of large and even colossal magnetoresistance. It has been discovered that these oxides exhibit a new phenomenon, the crystallographic and electronic phase separation. It is this phenomenon that is at the origin of the competition between ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism or spin glass behaviour and which leads to the negative magnetoresistance (MR). The doping of these materials at different sites appears then to be a means of inducing large MR effects.
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Laboratoire CRISMAT, UMR 6508, CNRS ENSICAEN, 6 Boulevard Maréchal Juin, 14050 Caen, Cedex 4, France. bernard.raveau@ensicaen.fr