Direct-current transport properties of and microwave absorption in a bulk ceramic sample and a film of La0.5Sr0.5CoO3-δ:: magnetic inhomogeneity effects

The DC transport properties of and microwave absorption (at 41 GHz) in a bulk ceramic sample and a film (220 nm thick) of La0.5Sr0.5CoO3-delta are measured. The bulk sample was cut from a target from which the film was also produced, by pulsed-laser deposition. It is found that the temperature behaviours of the DC resistivity and magnetoresistance (MR) of the bulk sample are quite different from those of the film. This is attributed to oxygen depletion of the film as compared with the target. Below the Curie temperature T-C, the film behaves like a highly inhomogeneous system of weakly connected ferromagnetic grains (or clusters). The microwave study provides further data on the inhomogeneity of the samples. It is found that the surface layer of the bulk sample has very low conductivity compared with the bulk. This can be explained by the oxygen depletion of the surface layer. The most important feature of doped cobaltates revealed in this study is the following: the microwave conductivity, which should be related mainly to the conductivity within the poorly connected grains, increases by an order of magnitude at the transition to the ferromagnetic state. The increase is much greater than that found in the reported DC measurements on doped cobaltates of the highest crystal perfection. The microwave effect found is attributed to an inherent magnetically inhomogeneous state of the doped cobaltates. On the basis of the results obtained, it can be suggested that the rather low MR in the doped cobaltates as compared with that of the manganites is attributable to their more inhomogeneous magnetic state.