The self-organised phases of manganites

Self-organisation requires a multi-component system. In turn, a multi-compo nent system requires that there exist conditions in which more than one com ponent is robust enough to survive. This is the case in the manganites beca use the free energies of surprisingly dissimilar competing states can be si milar-even in continuous systems that are chemically homogeneous. Here we d escribe the basic physics of the manganites and the nature of the competing phases. Using Landau theory we speculate on the exotic textures that may b e created on a mesoscopic length scale of several unit cells. (C) 2001 Else vier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.