Polaron melting and ordering as key mechanisms for colossal resistance effects in manganites

Polarons, the combined motion of electrons in a cloth of their lattice distortions, are a key transport feature in doped manganites. To develop a profound understanding of the colossal resistance effects induced by external fields, the study of polaron correlations and the resulting collective polar...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2007-08, Vol.104 (34), p.13597-13602
Main Authors: Jooss, Ch, Wu, L, Beetz, T, Klie, R.F, Beleggia, M, Schofield, M.A, Schramm, S, Hoffmann, J, Zhu, Y
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Crystal lattices
Doping
Electric current
Electrical phases
Electrical resistivity
Electrons
Jahn Teller effect
Magnetic fields
Magnetism
Manganese compounds
Materials
Melting
Physical Sciences
Polarons
Random access memory
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Summary:Polarons, the combined motion of electrons in a cloth of their lattice distortions, are a key transport feature in doped manganites. To develop a profound understanding of the colossal resistance effects induced by external fields, the study of polaron correlations and the resulting collective polaron behavior, i.e., polaron ordering and transition from polaronic transport to metallic transport is essential. We show that static long-range ordering of Jahn-Teller polarons forms a polaron solid which represents a new type of charge and orbital ordered state. The related noncentrosymmetric lattice distortions establish a connection between colossal resistance effects and multiferroic properties, i.e., the coexistence of ferroelectric and antiferromagnetic ordering. Colossal resistance effects due to an electrically induced polaron solid-liquid transition are directly observed in a transmission electron microscope with local electric stimulus applied in situ using a piezo-controlled tip. Our results shed light onto the colossal resistance effects in magnetic field and have a strong impact on the development of correlated electron-device applications such as resistive random access memory (RRAM).
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.0702748104