The evolution of magneto-transport and magneto-optical properties of thin La0.8Ag0.1MnO3+δ films possessing the in-plane variant structure as a function of the film thickness

Epitaxial La0.8Ag0.1MnO3+delta films of different thicknesses (500-1000 nm) were grown on ZrO2 (Y2O3) substrates. Their optical, magneto-optical and transport properties were studied in order to clarify the effect of the epitaxial variant structure and Ag ion distribution on the conductivity, magnetoresistance and infrared magnetotransmission in these films. An original method was developed for separating MR contributions related to the colossal magnetoresistance near T-C and the tunnelling magnetoresistance. It was established that in the La0.8Ag0.1MnO3+delta films spin-polarization of electrons P reached similar to 0.5. The transverse Kerr effect revealed the irregular distribution of Ag ions through the film thickness. The comparison of optical and electrical data implies lower silver content near the film-substrate boundary in relation to that in the domain volume.