Current induced metastable states and abnormal electroresistance effect in epitaxial thin films of La0.8Ca0.2MnO3

By applying an electric current to La_0.8Ca_0.2MnO₃ films at 20 K, a high-resistive state is excited near the Curie point. Such a current induced metastable state turns out to be extremely sensitive to weak measuring currents. When the measuring current changes from 1 to 20 μA, the peak resistance near the metal-insulator transition temperature is reduced from 366 to , showing a remarkably enhanced electroresistance effect (ER=[R(0)−R(I)]/R(0)=70%). Also, in contrast to the previous reports, the metal-insulator transition shifts to a higher temperature. Our experiments show that the high-resistive state is metastable and cannot be removed by reversing the current direction. These behaviors yield a possibility to modulate the metal-insulator phase transition by using electric currents.