Magneto-Transport Properties of the Rutheno-Cuprate RuSr₂GdCu₂O₈

RuSr_2GdCu_2O_8 (Ru-1212) is a triple perovskite containing both CuO_2 and RuO_2 layers. It has attracted a great deal of interest recently because it displays electronic ferromagnetism and superconductivity coexisting on a microscopic scale, with T_Curie of 135K and T_c up to 50K. We report magnetisation and magnetoresistance (MR) data that exhibit effects due to the interaction between the ferromagnetic ruthenium moments and the conduction electrons. The MR is negative at temperatures above T_Curie, and is proportional to the square of the applied field well above this temperature. Below T_Curie the MR displays a positive peak at fields of around 15 kOe, but at high fields it becomes negative again, and approximately linear. We analyse the high temperature data in terms of spin-disorder scattering theory and extract a value for the exchange interaction between the carriers in the CuO_2 planes and the Ru spins.