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Infrared spectroscopy is used to investigate the electronic structure and charge carrier relaxation in crystalline films of CrO2 which is the simplest of all half-metallic ferromagnets. Chromium dioxide is a bad metal at room temperature but it has a remarkably low residual resistivity (<5 >μΩ cm) despite the small spectral weight associated with free carrier absorption. The infrared measurements show that low residual resistivity is due to the collapse of the scattering rate at ω<2000 >cm-1. The blocking of the relaxation channels at low v and T can be attributed to the unique electronic structure of a half-metallic ferromagnet. In contrast to other ferromagnetic oxides, the intraband spectral weight is constant below the Curie temperature.
Copyright © 1999 American Physical Society. Reprinted with permission.