The measured photoelectron emission spectra of spin-up and spin-down electrons from the surface of a thin film of La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃. The spectra illustrate the lack of detectable spin-down photoelectrons at the Fermi level, or even a few tenths of an eV below. Such a result, which indicates metallic spin-up electrons but a gap in the spin-down spectrum, is expected for half metallic character. The result also requires that both the bulk and the surface of the system be half metallic (because both regions are probed in this photoemission experiment). (Adapted from J.-H. Park et al., Nature, volume 392, page 794, 1998.)

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© 2001 American Institute of Physics