Photo-induced magnetoresistance enhancement in manganite heterojunction at room temperature

The enhanced magnetoresistance (MR) effect has been discovered under laser illumination in the La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 film on the n-Si substrate at room temperature. The MR ratio dramatically increases from 0.54% to as large as 18% by irradiating with a 808 nm CW laser in 6.4 kOe magnetic field. Our results have potential applications to develop novel photo-magnetic functional devices operated at room temperature, and even possible multifunctional devices with tunable optical and magnetic properties. © 2011 IOP Publishing Ltd.