Magnon-mediated Magnetoresistance in Layered Manganites

We describe here a type of magnetoresistance that takes place in naturally layered and outstanding ordered single phase manganites that may be mediated by magnon excitation. In particular, we show the effect for the Ruddlesden-Popper compound, LaSr2Mn2O7 synthesized by ceramic method. This material exhibits, besides the conventional colossal magnetoresistance, another type of magnetoresistance at low temperature, associated with breaking of the A-type antiferromagnetic coupling of Mn-containing planes. Excitation of magnons or application of a magnetic field breaks this antiparallel alignment so that some electrons, initially confined on the planes, become itinerant along the interplain directions through a double exchange mechanism, giving rise to resistance variations of the order of similar to 60% for polycrystalline samples. The effect described here might be present in other types of manganites exhibiting a natural layered structure, opening up the possibility of developing magnetoresistive devices based on antiferromagnetic oxide materials without requiring artificial multilayered structures.