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Europhys. Lett., 59 (3) , pp. 458-464 (2002)

Roughness-induced enhancement of giant magnetoresistance in epitaxial $\chem{Fe/Cr/Fe(001)}$ trilayers

D. Olligs, D. E. Bürgler, Y. G. Wang, E. Kentzinger, U. Rücker, R. Schreiber, Th. Brückel and P. Grünberg

Institut für Festkörperforschung, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH D-52425 Jülich, Germany

d.buergler@fz-juelich.de

(Received 25 January 2002; accepted 6 May 2002)

Abstract
We grow high-quality epitaxial Fe/Cr/Fe trilayers on Au(001) buffer layers and control the roughness of the Fe/Cr interfaces by stopping the deposition of Fe and Cr at a reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) intensity maximum or minimum. We thus obtain pairs of identical samples which only differ by their interface roughness as confirmed by X-ray reflectivity. Magneto-optical hysteresis loops reveal perfect antiparallel alignment at low fields for all samples. The current-in-plane giant magnetoresistance (CIP-GMR) of trilayers with rougher interfaces is significantly enhanced.

PACS
75.70.Cn - Interfacial magnetic properties (multilayers).
75.70.Pa - Giant magnetoresistance.
68.35.Ct - Interface structure and roughness.

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