Abstract
The dependence of the giant magnetoresistance in Co/Cu multilayers on Cu spacer layer thickness is shown to be surprisingly straightforward for multilayers comprised of thin Co layers. At 4.2 K the magnetoresistance decays simply as the inverse Cu spacer layer thickness, which we consider to be a result of dilution of the Co/Cu interfacial regions which give rise to the giant magnetoresistance effect. At 295 K there is an additional exponential decay whose decay length we attribute to volume scattering within the Cu layers. High-resolution cross-section transmission electron micrographs show a high degree of structural ordering within the Cu layers and across the Co/Cu interfaces, perhaps accounting for the long volume scattering lengths (300 at 295 K) found within the Cu layers.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 9136-9139 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Physical Review B |
Volume | 47 |
Issue number | 14 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1993 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Condensed Matter Physics