The Kronig-Penney-Ising picture of the colossal magnetoresistance

From general arguments, it is shown that a magnetic Kronig-Penney model based on the thermodynamics of an Ising model can be used for describing the Colossal Magnetoresistance (CMR) phenomenon. The model considers a tunneling-like transmission process of hopping electrons through a dynamic lattice characterized by evolving magnetic clusters. In this model, correlations between the magnetic states are considered to be more relevant than the lattice strain effects for obtaining the CMR features. Physical arguments lead to the theoretical description of the intrinsic temperature and field dependences of the CMR observed in typical manganite materials.