205 research outputs found
Strain-induced insulator state in La_0.7Sr_0.3CoO_3
We report on the observation of a strain-induced insulator state in
ferromagnetic La_0.7Sr_0.3CoO_3 films. Tensile strain above 1% is found to
enhance the resistivity by several orders of magnitude. Reversible strain of
0.15% applied using a piezoelectric substrate triggers huge resistance
modulations, including a change by a factor of 10 in the paramagnetic regime at
300 K. However, below the ferromagnetic ordering temperature, the magnetization
data indicate weak dependence on strain for the spin state of the Co ions. We
interpret the changes observed in the transport properties in terms of a
strain-induced splitting of the Co e_g levels and reduced double exchange,
combined with a percolation-type conduction in an electronic cluster state
Si-induced superconductivity and structural transformations in DyRh4B4
DyRh4B4 has been known to crystallize in the primitive tetragonal
(pt)-structure and to exhibit a ferromagnetic transition at 12 K, the highest
magnetic transition temperature in the entire series of the RRh4B4 materials
[1]. We show here that our silicon-added samples of the nominal composition
DyRh4B4Si0.2 exhibit superconductivity below Tc ~ 4.5 K and an
antiferromagnetic transition below TN ~ 2.7 K. The 12 K transition observed in
the pt-DyRh4B4 is completely suppressed. Our annealed samples mainly consist of
domains of the chemical composition DyRh3.9B4.2Si0.08. These domains contain
two crystallographic phases belonging to the body-centred tetragonal
(bct)-structure and the orthorhombic (o)-structure. We have reasons to suggest
that superconductivity and antiferromagnetic ordering arise from bct- DyRh4B4
phase and, therefore, coexist below TN ~ 2.7 K.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, Accepted for publication in Journal of Alloys
and Compound
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