Abstract
Magnetoresistance—the field-dependent change in the electrical resistance of a ferromagnetic material—finds applications in technologies such as magnetic recording. Near and above the Curie point, T c, corresponding to the onset of magnetic order, scattering of charge carriers by magnetic fluctuations can substantially increase the electrical resistance1,2. These fluctuations can be suppressed3 by a magnetic field, leading to a negative magnetoresistance. Magnetic scattering might also have a role in the ‘colossal’ magnetoresistance observed in some perovskite manganese oxides4,5,6, but is it not yet clear how to reconcile this behaviour with that of the conventional ferromagnetic materials. Here we show that, in generic models of magnetic scattering, the bulk low-field magnetoresistance (near and above T c) is determined by a single parameter: the charge-carrier density. In agreement with experiment3,7,8, the low-field magnetoresistance scales with the square of the ratio of the field-induced magnetization to the saturation magnetization. The scaling factor is C ≈ x −2/3, where x is the number of charge carriers per magnetic unit cell. Data from very different ferromagnetic metals and doped semiconductors are in broad quantitative agreement with this relationship, with the notable exception of the perovskite manganese oxides (in which dynamic lattice distortions complicate and enhance4,9,10,11,12 the effects of pure magnetic scattering). Our results might facilitate searches for new materials with large bulk magnetoresistive properties.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Fisher, M. E. & Langer, J. S. Resistive anomalies at magnetic critical points. Phys. Rev. Lett. 20, 665–668 (1968).
de Gennes, P. G. & Friedel, J. Anomalies de résistivité dans certains métaux magnétiques. J. Phys. Chem. Solids 4, 71–77 (1958).
von Molnar, S. & Methfessel, S. Giant negative magnetoresistance in ferromagnetic Eu1−xGdxSe. J.Appl. Phys. 38, 959–964 (1967).
Ramirez, A. P. Colossal magnetoresistance. J. Phys: Condens. Matt. 9, 8171–8199 (1997).
Mathur, N. Not just a load of bolometers. Nature 390, 229–231 (1997).
Jin, S. et al. Thousandfold change in resistivity in magnetoresistive La-Ca-Mn-O films. Science 264, 414–417 (1994).
Urushibara, A. et al. Insulator–metal transition and giant magnetoresistance in La1−xSrxMnO3. Phys. Rev. B 51, 14103–14109 (1995).
Shimikawa, Y., Kubo, Y. & Manako, T. Giant magnetoresistance in Tl2Mn2O7with the pyrochlore structure. Nature 379, 53–55 (1996).
Hwang, H. Y., Cheong, S.-W., Radaelli, P. G., Marezio, M. & Batlogg, B. Lattice effects on the magnetoresistance in doped LaMnO3. Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 914–917 (1995).
Millis, A. J., Littlewood, P. B. & Shraiman, B. I. Double exchange alone does not explain the resistivity of La1−xSrxMnO3. Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 5144–5147 (1995).
Millis, A. J., Shraiman, B. I. & Mueller, R. Dynamic Jahn–Teller effect and colossal magnetoresistance in La1−xSrxMnO3. Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 175–178 (1996).
Röder, H., Zang, J. & Bishop, A. R. Lattice effects in colossal magnetoresistance perovskites. Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 1356–1359 (1996).
Cochrane, R. W., Hedgcock, F. T. & Ström-Olsen, J. O. Exchange scattering in a ferromagnetic semiconductor. Phys. Rev. B 8, 4262–4266 (1973).
Yamaguchi, S., Taniguchi, H., Takagi, H., Arima, T. & Tokura, Y. Magnetoresistance in metallic crystals of La1−xSrxCoO3. J. Phys. Soc. Jpn 64, 1885–1888 (1995).
Li, Q., Zang, J., Bishop, A. R. & Soukoulis, C. M. Charge localization in disordered colossal-magnetoresistance manganites. Phys. Rev. B 56, 4541–4544 (1997).
Furukawa, N. Magnetoresistance of the double-exchange model in infinite dimension. J. Phys. Soc. Jpn 64, 2734–2737 (1995).
Green, A. C. M., Edwards, D. M. & Kubo, K. Ageneralized coherent potential approximation for double exchange systems.Preprint (1998).
Kasuya, T., Yanase, A. & Takeda, T. Stability condition for the magnetic polaron in a magnetic semiconductor. Solid State Commun. 8, 1543–1546 (1970).
Singh, D. J. Magnetoelectronic effects in pyrochlore Tl2Mn2O7: role of Tl–O covalency. Phys. Rev. B 55, 313–316 (1997).
Ventura, C. I. & Alascio, B. Intermediate valence model for the colossal magnetoresistance in Tl2Mn2O7. Phys. Rev. B 56, 14533–14540 (1997).
Batlogg, B. Valence changes in TmSe by alloying with TmTe and EuSe. Phys. Rev. B 23, 650–663 (1981).
Schiffer, P., Ramirez, A. P., Bao, W. & Cheong, S.-W. Low-temperature magnetoresistance and the magnetic phase diagram of La1−xCaxMnO3. Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 3336–3339 (1995).
Martinez, B. et al. Spin–disorder scattering and localization in magnetoresistive (La1−xYx)2/3Ca1/3MnO3perovskites. Phys. Rev. B 54, 10001–10007 (1996).
Haas, C., van Run, A. M. J. G., Bongers, P. F. & Albers, W. The magnetoresistance of n-type CdCr2Se4. Solid State Commun. 5, 657–661 (1967).
Ramirez, A. P., Cava, R. J. & Krajewski, J. Colossal magnetoresistance in Cr-based chalcogenide spinels. Nature 386, 156–159 (1997).
Acknowledgements
We thank G. Aeppli, B. Batlogg, H. Hwang, A. Millis and A. Ramirez for extensive discussions. Work done at Cambridge University was supported by the EPSRC.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Majumdar, P., Littlewood, P. Dependence of magnetoresistivity on charge-carrier density in metallic ferromagnets and doped magnetic semiconductors. Nature 395, 479–481 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/26703
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/26703
This article is cited by
-
Coupling between magnetic order and charge transport in a two-dimensional magnetic semiconductor
Nature Materials (2022)
-
Mn-induced Ferromagnetic Semiconducting Behavior with Linear Negative Magnetoresistance in Sr4(Ru1−xMnx)3O10 Single Crystals
Scientific Reports (2018)
-
The physical mechanism of magnetic field controlled magnetocaloric effect and magnetoresistance in bulk PrGa compound
Scientific Reports (2015)
-
Electrically tuned magnetic order and magnetoresistance in a topological insulator
Nature Communications (2014)
-
Possible magnetic-polaron-switched positive and negative magnetoresistance in the GdSi single crystals
Scientific Reports (2012)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.