Spin-polarized intergrain tunneling in La_2/3Sr_1/3MnO₃

The magnetoresistance (MR) and the field dependent magnetization have been systematically examined in the low temperature ferromagnetic metallic state of single crystal and polycrystalline La_2/3Sr_1/3MnO₃.We find that the intrinsic negative MR in single crystal is due to the suppression of spin fluctuations, and magnetic domain boundaries do not dominate the scattering process. In contrast, we demonstrate that the MR in the polycrystalline samples exhibits two distinct regions: large MR at low fields dominated by spin-polarized tunneling between grains and high field MR which is remarkably temperature independent from 5 to 280 K.