Evolution of oxide electronics: Examples from HTS and CMR

The last decade has seen the emergence of epitaxial metal-oxide films as one of the leading electronic material systems of the future. This emergence was primarily stimulated by the advent of high temperature superconductors but more recently the resurgence of interest in magnetoresistance phenomena has led to considerable excitement regarding the epitaxial manganite films in which significant field induced nonlinearities have been seen. In this article we will make a brief comparison between some of the important areas of similarity and differences between the cuprates and the manganites and draw some general inferences regarding the field of oxides and their importance to materials science and technology.