Effect of cobalt on the magnetoresistance characteristics of rare-earth doped manganites

The effect of cobalt-doping on the magnetic, transport and magnetoresistance characteristics of La_1-xSr_xMnO ₃ was investigated. The results show that the magnetoelectric property of rare-earth doped manganites is greatly affected by substitution of Co for Mn sites. The Curie temperature as well as the magnetic moment decreases with the increase of doping concentration, and the samples exhibit obvious characteristics of the spin glass state. Moreover, the magnetoresistance is evidently modulated by doping concentration, and the relevant temperature dependence is also suppressed. In addition, low-temperature magnetoresistance is significantly promoted as doping concentration increases, which renders a value of approximately 50% in the temperature range of 5-200 K and varies within 12.5%. It can be attributed to the effect of spin scattering, induced by cobalt doping, on the itinerant electrons of Mn ions, thus introducing a spin-disorder region into the ferromagnetic region of double-exchange interaction between neighbouring Mn³⁺ and Mn⁴⁺ ions.