Vol Page/Article: Your access to Phys. Rev. B is provided through the subscription of Central Research Institute. What is this? [ Previous / Next Abstract | Issue Table of Contents | Bottom of Page <#bottom> ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Physical Review B (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics -1(II)) Phys. Rev. B 68, 224426 (2003) (7 pages) view MyArticles What is this? Full Text: [ PDF (385 kB) GZipped PS Order Document ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Perpendicular giant magnetoresistance and magnetic switching properties of a single spin valve with a synthetic antiferromagnet as a free layer Y. Jiang , S. Abe , T. Nozaki , N. Tezuka , and K. Inomata Department of Materials Science, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8579, Japan CREST, Japan Science and Technology Corporation, Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0012, Japan (Received 18 July 2003; revised 23 September 2003; published 24 December 2003) We study the current-perpendicular-to-plane giant magnetoresistance (CPP-GMR) and magnetic switching behavior of single spin-valve (SV) films with two different free layers?one is a single ferromagnet (FM) layer, while the other is a synthetic antiferromagnet (SyAF) consisting of Co90Fe10/Ru/Co90Fe10. When the interlayer Cu thickness is 2.5 nm, the SyAF as a free layer greatly enhances the CPP-GMR of SVs from 0.8% to 3.6%. The GMR enhancement effect decreases with increasing interlayer Cu thickness. We argue that the MR enhancement by the SyAF is probably because of strong reflection of the majority spins by the interface between Co90Fe10 and ruthenium. Experimental and theoretical studies of the magnetic switching behavior show that the SVs with SyAF have a much better tendency to form a single magnetic domain than the conventional ones. The single domain structure results in a size-independent magnetic switching field of the SVs with SyAF at the low aspect ratio 1. ©2003 The American Physical Society URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v68/e224426 doi: 10.1103/PhysRevB.68.224426 PACS: 75.47.De, 75.70.Kw, 72.25.Ba Additional Information View ISI's Web of Science data for this article: [ Source Abstract | Related Articles ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text: [ PDF (385 kB) GZipped PS Order Document ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ References Citation links [e.g., Phys. Rev. D 40, 2172 (1989)] go to online journal abstracts. Other links (see Reference Information ) are available with your current login. 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[ISI] The American Physical Society is a member of CrossRef . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text: [ PDF (385 kB) GZipped PS Order Document ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Citing Articles This list contains links to other online articles that cite the article currently being viewed. # Effective Reduction of Critical Current for Current-Induced Magnetization Switching by a Ru Layer Insertion in an Exchange-Biased Spin Valve Y. Jiang et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 167204 (2004) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Text: [ PDF (385 kB) GZipped PS Order Document ] [ Previous / Next Abstract | Issue Table of Contents | Top of Page <#top> ] [ Homepage | Browse Available Volumes | Search | Subscriptions | Contact Information | Online Help | Exit ]