Phys. Rev. Lett. Phys. Rev. A Phys. Rev. B Phys. Rev. C Phys. Rev. D Phys. Rev. E Phys. Rev. ST AB Rev. Mod. Phys. Phys. Rev. (Series I) Phys. Rev. Volume: Page/Article:

Phys. Rev. B 57, 13692–13697 (1998)

[Issue 21 – 1 June 1998 ]

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Quantitative study of the interdependence OF interface structure and giant magnetoresistance in polycrystalline Fe/Cr superlattices

R. Schad^*

Laboratorium voor Vast-Stoffysika en Magnetisme, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium

Research Institute for Materials, KU Nijmegen, NL-6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands

P. Beliën^§, G. Verbanck, and C. D. Potter

Laboratorium voor Vast-Stoffysika en Magnetisme, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium

H. Fischer

Institute Laue Langevin, 38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France

S. Lefebvre and M. Bessiere

LURE, Université de Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France

V. V. Moshchalkov and Y. Bruynseraede

Laboratorium voor Vast-Stoffysika en Magnetisme, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium

We present a quantitative characterization of the interface roughness of Fe/Cr superlattices based on specular and off-specular x-ray diffraction using anomalous scattering. We discuss the dependence of the amplitude of the giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect, including changes in the interlayer magnetic coupling, on the interface structure. We observe a reduction of the GMR effect with increasing amplitude of the interface roughness having constant lateral correlation length. However, the physical interpretation of this clear result in terms of spin-dependent interface scattering remains unclear because of the unknown bulk contribution.

©1998 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v57/p13692
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.57.13692
PACS: 75.70.Pa, 68.35.Ct, 61.10.-i

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