Colossal Van der Waals small-polaron superlattice: a hint to understanding the colossal magnetoresistance and electroresistance in manganites

A mechanism is proposed to explain the formation of a small-polaron superlattice above the Curie temperature in manganites. The order-disorder transition initiated by the external field at a lattice is known responsible for the colossal resistance effect. We attribute the lattice formation to the occurrence of strong Van der Waals pairing of vibronic small polarons arising from the phonon coupling of highly polarizable two-level orbital systems. The latter having inherent electric and magnetic dipoles associated with them, they couple to the external field leading to the observed colossal effects. We find numerical estimates of the critical field compatible.