Colossal Magnetoresistance is a Griffiths Singularity

M. B. Salamon, P. Lin, S. H. Chun

Published 2002-01-22Version 2

It is now widely accepted that the magnetic transition in doped manganites that show large magnetoresistance is a type of percolation effect. This paper demonstrates that the transition should be viewed in the context of the Griffiths phase that arises when disorder suppresses a magnetic transition. This approach explains unusual aspects of susceptibility and heat capacity data from a single crystal of La$_{0.7}$Ca$_{0.3}$MnO$_{3}.$