Transport and fermiology of the ferromagnetic phase of La(2/3)A(1/3)MnO(3) (A = Ca, Sr, Ba)

A virtual crystal treatment of the electronic structure of ferromagnetic La(2/3)A(1/3)MnO(3) (A = Ca, Sr, Ba) within the local density approximation is carried out to study the properties of this system in the low temperature or high field regime where it is ferromagnetic and highly conducting. Neglecting disorder effects, the alloy is nearly half-metallic, with two large majority spin Fermi surfaces (sphere and cube) and small minority Fermi surfaces with associated Fermi energy of 0.15 eV. Estimates of disorder lead to the conclusion that minority carriers will lie below the mobility edge, giving effectively half-metallic character to this material. Electronic anomalies and tendencies toward instabilities arising from nesting of the nearly perfect cube majority Fermi surface are presented and discussed.