Stress-induced metallic behavior under magnetic field in Pr$_{1-x}$Ca$_{x}$MnO$_{3}$ (x = 0.5 and 0.4) thin films

Abstract

We have investigated the role of the stress-induced by the presence of the substrate in thin films of colossal magnetoresistive manganites on structural, resistive and magnetic properties. Because of the strong coupling between the small structural distortions related to the charge-ordering (CO) and the resistive properties, the presence of the substrate prevents the full developpement of the charge ordering in Pr$_{0.5}$Ca$_{0.5}$MnO$_{3}$, especially in the very thin films. For thicker films, the CO state exists, but is not fully developped. Correlatively, the magnetic field which is necessary to suppress the CO is decreased drastically from 25 Tesla to about 5 Tesla on SrTiO$_{3}$ substrates. We have also investigated the influence of the doping level by studying the case of Pr$_{0.6}$Ca$_{0.4}$MnO$_{3}$.