title: Large resistivity modulation in mixed-phase metallic systems.
abstract: In numerous systems, giant physical responses have been discovered when two phases coexist; for example, near a phase transition. An intermetallic FeRh system undergoes a first-order antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic transition above room temperature and shows two-phase coexistence near the transition. Here we have investigated the effect of an electric field to FeRh/PMN-PT heterostructures and report 8% change in the electrical resistivity of FeRh films. Such a 'giant' electroresistance (GER) response is striking in metallic systems, in which external electric fields are screened, and thus only weakly influence the carrier concentrations and mobilities. We show that our FeRh films comprise coexisting ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases with different resistivities and the origin of the GER effect is the strain-mediated change in their relative proportions. The observed behaviour is reminiscent of colossal magnetoresistance in perovskite manganites and illustrates the role of mixed-phase coexistence in achieving large changes in physical properties with low-energy external perturbation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Yeonbae
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
authors.forename: Z Q
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA.
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Heron
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Clarkson
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.affiliation: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Biegalski
authors.affiliation: Materials Theory, ETH Zurich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 27, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Aschauer
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Nowakowski
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA [2] Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Christen
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Salahuddin
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA [2] Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Bokor
authors.affiliation: Materials Theory, ETH Zurich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 27, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Spaldin
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA [2] Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA.
authors.forename: D G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Schlom
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA [2] Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA [3] Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA [4] Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ramesh