Magneto-optical Kerr effect in laser-patterned La[sub 2/3]Sr[sub 1/3]MnO[sub 3] epitaxial thin films.

In this study, we have performed magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) measurement on epitaxial La[sub 2/3]Sr[sub 1/3]MnO[sub 3] thin films containing artificial interfaces created by laser-patterning the SrTiO[sub 3] substrate. The observed increase of the resistivity and of the high-field magnetoresistance when measuring the films across the interface arrays are related to the reduction of the magnetization of the interfaces with respect to the rest of the film. As observed by the local MOKE probe, the structural disorder in the manganite film induced by the underlying patterned substrate leads to a large spin disorder responsible for a strong high-field susceptibility of the resistance. © 2001 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]