Phase separation in double-exchange systems

Ferromagnetic systems described by the double-exchange model are investigated. At temperatures close to the Curie temperature, and for a wide range of doping levels, the system is unstable toward phase separation. The chemical potential decreases upon increasing doping, due to the significant dependence of the bandwidth on the number of carriers. The reduction of the electronic bandwidth by spin disorder leads to an enormously enhanced thermopower which peaks near T-C, with a sign opposite to that predicted by a rigid-band model.