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Phys. Rev. Lett. 61, 2472–2475 (1988)

[Issue 21 – 21 November 1988 ]

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Giant Magnetoresistance of (001)Fe/(001)Cr Magnetic Superlattices

M. N. Baibich^*, J. M. Broto, A. Fert, F. Nguyen Van Dau, and F. Petroff

Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, Université Paris-Sud, F-91405 Orsay, France

P. Eitenne, G. Creuzet, A. Friederich, and J. Chazelas

Laboratoire Central de Recherches, Thomson CSF, B.P. 10, F-91401 Orsay, France

We have studied the magnetoresistance of (001)Fe/(001)Cr superlattices prepared by molecularbeam epitaxy. A huge magnetoresistance is found in superlattices with thin Cr layers: For example, with t_Cr=9 Å, at T=4.2 K, the resistivity is lowered by almost a factor of 2 in a magnetic field of 2 T. We ascribe this giant magnetoresistance to spin-dependent transmission of the conduction electrons between Fe layers through Cr layers.

©1988 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v61/p2472
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.61.2472
PACS: 75.50.Rr, 72.15.Gd, 75.70.Cn

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