Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

By performing angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy of the bilayer colossal magnetoresistive (CMR) manganite, La2-2xSr1+2xMn2O7, we provide the complete mapping of the Fermi-level spectral weight topology. Clear and unambiguous bilayer splitting of the in-plane 3dx2-y2 band, mapped throughout the Brillouin zone, and the full mapping of the 3d3z2-r2 band are reported. Peculiar doping and temperature dependencies of these bands imply that as transition from the ferromagnetic metallic phase approaches, either as a function of doping or temperature, coherence along the c-axis between planes within the bilayer is lost, resulting in reduced interplane coupling. These results suggest that interplane coupling plays a large role in the CMR transition.