Thermal and magnetic properties of manganese oxides

This thesis reports a study of the thermal, magnetic and transport properties of perovskite manganese oxides A1-xBxMnO3 (A = La, Nd, and Pr; B = Ca, Ba, and Sr). The ferromagnetic (FM) metallic (low x) and the charge-ordered (CO) (high x) doping regimes were studied in order to better understand the complex behavior of these materials. In the metallic doping range the low temperature magnetization was found to be in agreement with the Bloch law for ferromagnetic spin waves, and the spin-wave stiffness was determined. Important parameters such as the Debye temperature and the effective mass of the charge carriers were determined from low temperature specific heat experiments. The effective mass of the charge carriers was found to be 2--4 times heavier than the mass obtained from band structure calculations suggesting an important role of electron-phonon interactions in these materials. In order to better understand the nature of the metal-insulator transition at the ferromagnetic TC the resistivity and magnetization of epitaxial thin films of La0.67Ca 0.33MnO3 and Nd0.7Sr0.3MnO3 were studied. It was found that the behavior of the resistivity and magnetization near TC is inconsistent with Anderson localization as proposed by several theories.; Various compositions of charge-ordered La1-xCaxMnO3 and Pr1-xCa1-xMnO 3 were studied to better understand the CO transition and its ground state. From powder neutron diffraction measurements we found that the CO antiferromagnetic (AFM) and ferromagnetic metallic phases coexist at low temperatures. Charge ordered Pr1-xCaxMnO3 and La1-xCax MnO3 (x ≈ 0.5) were found to have an anomalous excess specific heat ( C') at low temperatures (T < 20 K). This C' contribution has a temperature dependence consistent with non-magnetic excitations with a dispersion relation e = Delta' + Bq2. Surprisingly, it was found that a magnetic field sufficient to induce the transition from the insulating CO (and AFM) state to the metallic FM state is not sufficient to eliminate the C' contribution to the specific heat. The possible origin of these excitations and their relation to the CO ground state is discussed.