Giant intrinsic tunnel magnetoresistance in manganite thin films etched with antidot arrays

Huge intrinsic tunnel magnetoresistance effects at low field are demonstrated in macroscopic La0.33Pr0.34Ca0.33MnO3 thin films etched with periodic antidot arrays, and a highest magnetoresistance ratio (about 1600%) is achieved at 58 K. Such giant tunnel magnetoresistance effect might originate from delicate phase separation and coherent transport under the applied periodic spatial confinement. Strong transport fluctuation is also revealed in such systems due to phase competition. Our findings pave a way to realize tunnel magnetoresistance devices based on electronically phase separated materials with spatial modulations.