Conduction electrons as dissipation channel in friction experiments at the metal-metal transition of LSMO measured by contact-resonance atomic force microscopy

We report on friction measurements on a La_0.6Sr_0.4MnO₃ (LSMO) thin film using atomic force microscopy cantilever contact-resonances. There is a contribution to the damping of the cantilever oscillations, which is caused by micro-sliding of the cantilever tip on the surface of the thin film. This frictional part decreases with temperature parallel to the increase in the resistivity of the thin film. The LSMO is well-known for a ferromagnetic to paramagnetic phase transition that occurs without changes in the rhombohedral (R-3c) crystalline structure. The magnetic transition at the Curie temperature T_C ∼ 360 K is accompanied by a metal-to-metal transition with a large increase in electrical resistivity. The behavior of the cantilever damping constant demonstrates that there is a direct coupling between mechanical friction and the mobility of the electrons in the LSMO film.