A great deal of research has been carried out in perovskite rare-earth manganites. Among them, La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃ (LSMO) is of particular interest due to its colossal magnetoresistive effect. So far, studies in LSMO have mainly been focused on its bulk magnetic transport properties. Much less work has been carried out in LSMO nanostructures. In fact, to our knowledge, there is no report on exploring low temperature photoluminescence (PL) measurements and the magnetic (B) field dependence in LSMO.

In this talk, I will first report our recent results of magneto-photoluminescence in La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃ nanopillars embedded in a self-assembled vertically aligned epitaxial (ZnO)_0.5:(La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃)_0.5 nanocomposite film in the ultra-violet regime at magnetic (B) fields up to 12T. We have observed that at low B fields the PL intensity is nearly constant. As the B field is further increased over a characteristic value, which depends on sample temperature, the PL intensity decreases sharply and eventually quenches at higher magnetic fields. In the second part, I will present our recent results on giant magneto-resistance in LSMO nanopillars.