Manganites with perovskite
structure show peculiar properties such as colossal magnetoresistanece
(CMR) effect
and metal-to-insulator (MI) transition accompanying the charge
and orbital ordering. In this study, magnetic domain structures
in the CMR manganites; La5/8-xPrxCa3/8MnO3 ,(Nd1-xSmx)1/2Sr1/2MnO3 and
Nd0.5Ca0.5Mn1-yCryO3 were
investigated by the low-temperature Lorentz electron microscopy.
In La5/8-xPrxCa3/8MnO3 for
x=0.375 it is found that two types of characteristic ferromagnetic
(FM) domain structure appear below the MI transition temperature
around 100K. One is a typical large-scaled FM domain structure
and the other is a much smaller ( a few tens of nanometers)
striped-like FM domain structure. In addition, the spatial
distribution of the charge/orbital ordered (CO/OO) insulator
state and the ferromagnetic (FM) metallic one in La5/8-xPrxCa3/8MnO3 for
x=0.375 were clearly demonstrated. The coexisting states
are crucial to understand the peculiar properties found in
manganites. |