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Amorphous/crystalline mixed La[sub 0.5] Sr[sub 0.5] MnO[sub 3] (LSMO) thin films on quartz wafers are prepared at different depositing temperatures using laser ablation and their low-field magnetoresistive property is investigated. It is argued that the insulating amorphous layers separating the magnetic microcrystalline grains may act as the barriers for electron tunneling. The rapid decay of magnetoresistance with increasing temperature is explained by the spin-polarized inter-grain tunneling. Given the spin-polarized inter-grain tunneling as the probable mechanism, it is believed that the spin flip during inter-grain tunneling reaches a minimum at the optimized depositing temperature of 600 °C and consequently the maximal low-field magnetoresistance is obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract. The plasma plume formed by pulsed laser ablation of PbTiO[sub 3] (PT) in ambients of oxygen, nitrogen, and argon was studied by using a CCD camera. Two optical filters with different transmittance bands were used to identify the excitation, dissociation, ionization, and, especially, the chemical reactions in the plume. The results show that the atomic processes and chemical reaction mechanisms in the plume formed in active oxygen are very different from those formed in inert argon and nitrogen. It is proposed that the chemical reactions between ablated metal species and ambient oxygen are initiated by the strong shock wave formed during the propagation of the PT plume. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract. The most prominent phenomena on the target surface induced by laser irradiation in pulsed laser deposition is the formation of conical morphologies in the irradiated area. The conical morphologies formed under different laser fluences and the ambient oxygen pressures in KrF laser ablation of Pb(Zr[sub 0.53]Ti[sub 0.47])O[sub 3] were studied in detail by using scanning electron microscopy. The results indicate that, depending on the melting extent of the irradiated surface, there are two kinds of cones: one type with well-defined cone tip and cone body and the other having only a cone tip. Pb is very deficient in cone tip. The gas ambient pressure plays a remarkable role in the laser-target interaction. These results are interpreted by employing the impurity shielding mechanism and the surface instability mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]