Effect of Fe doping in polycrystalline La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 on transport and magnetic properties

Abstract The effect of Fe doping (⩽10%) on polycrystalline samples of La 0.7 Sr 0.3 MnO 3 has been studied through X-ray diffraction, resistivity, AC susceptibility, magnetization, and magnetoresistance measurements. Fe doping was found to change substantially the magnetic and transport properties of the samples, without modifying the lattice structure. In a magnetic field of 5 T, the magnetoresistance of a sample doped with 10% Fe was 4 times greater than that of an undoped sample, near the resistivity peak. This result was explained in terms of the formation of antiferromagnetic clusters of Fe ions. Magnetoresistance did not depend on Fe doping at 5 K, but there was a large magnetoresistive effect in fields less than 0.5 T in all samples. This behavior was attributed to spin polarized tunneling at grain boundaries of polycrystalline samples.