Local tunneling magnetoresistance probed by low-temperature scanning laser microscopy

Tunneling magnetoresistance in a vertical manganite junction was investigated by low-temperature scanning laser microscopy (LTSLM) allowing to determine the local relative magnetization M orientation of the two electrodes as a function of magnitude and orientation of the external magnetic field H. Sweeping the field amplitude at fixed orientation revealed magnetic domain nucleation and propagation in the junction electrodes. For the high-resistance state, an almost single-domain antiparallel magnetization configuration was achieved, while in the low-resistance state the junction remained in a multidomain state. Calculated resistance R_calc(H) based on the local M configuration obtained by LTSLM is in quantitative agreement with R(H) measured by magnetotransport.