Perovskite manganites are interesting for their colossal magnetoresistance and recent evidence suggests a complex underlying mechanism for this effect, going beyond a large electron-phonon coupling. Here, the authors use high-resolution neutron scattering and density functional theory to reveal that giant electron-phonon coupling in La1−xSrxMnO3 drives cooperative diffusive motion of charge-trapping lattice distortions, whereby the magnitude of magnetoresistance is correlated to diffusion rates rather than the strength of Jahn–Teller distortion.
- Tyler C. Sterling
- Andrei T. Savici
- Dmitry Reznik
