Percolative transport in the vicinity of charge-order ferromagnetic transition in a hole-doped manganite

We report measurements of non-linear charge transport in epitaxial (La1-x Pr x )0.7Ca0.3MnO3 thin films fabricated on (100) oriented SrTiO3 single crystals by pulsed laser deposition. The end members of this series, namely Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 and La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 are canonical charge-ordered (CO) and ferromagnetic manganites, respectively. The onset of the CO state in Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 is manifested by a pronounced insulating behavior below ~ 200 K. The CO state remains stable even when a large (~ 2×105 V/cm) electric field is applied across the thin film samples. However, on substitution of Pr with La, a crossover from the highly resistive CO state to a state of metallic character is observed at relatively low electric fields. The current-voltage characteristics of the samples at low temperatures show hysteretic and history dependent effects. The electric field driven charge transport in the system is modelled on the basis of an inhomogeneous medium consisting of ferromagnetic metallic clusters dispersed in a CO background