Spin-dependent transport in the double-perovskite $Sr2CrWO6$

We report on the preparation and characterization of the double-perovskite compound $Sr2CrWO6$ with a Curie temperature of 390 K. We have fabricated both $Sr2CrWO6$ bulk sintered polycrystalline bars and high-quality epitaxial thin films on $SrTiO3$ substrates by pulsed-laser deposition. The samples were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, x-ray diffraction, electrical transport, and magnetization measurements. Polycrystalline samples containing a large number of grain boundaries show a large low-field magnetoresistance of up to 100% at 5 K. At room temperature, this effect is reduced to a few percent. Our results show that $Sr2CrWO6$ is an interesting candidate for room-temperature magnetoelectronic materials.