Magnetoresistance in Mn pyrochlore: electrical transport in a low carrier density ferromagnet

Abstract

We discuss magnetotransport in a low density electron gas coupled to spin fluctuations near and above a ferromagnetic transition. Provided the density is low enough ($n \lesssim 1/ξ^{3}(T)$, with $ξ(T)$ the ferromagnetic correlation length), spin polarons form in an intermediate temperature regime above $T_c$. Both in the spin polaron regime, and in the itinerant regime nearer $T_c$, the magnetoresistance is large. We propose that this provides a good model for ``colossal'' magnetoresistance in the pyrochlore Tl$_{2-x}$Sc$_x$Mn$_2$O$_7$, fundamentally different from the mechanism in the perovskite manganites such as La$_{1-x}$Sr$_x$MnO$_3$.