Current-driven switching in a single exchange-biased ferromagnetic layer

We demonstrate spin-transfer torque effects in a single exchange-biased ferromagnetic layer. A current through a point contact to the exchange-biased Co layer reverses the magnetization of a nanodomain in the layer hysteretically for low applied magnetic fields and reversibly for high fields (up to 9 T). These effects are the inverse of the domain wall magnetoresistance, in the same way that similar effects in multilayers are the inverse of giant magnetoresistance.     

Electrical measurement of spin-wave interactions of proximate spin transfer nanooscillators

We have investigated the interaction mechanism between two nanocontact spin transfer oscillators made on the same magnetic spin valve multilayer. The oscillators phase lock when their precession frequencies are made similar, and a giant magnetoresistance signal is detectable at one contact due to precession at the other. Cutting the magnetic mesa between the contacts with a focused-ion beam modifies the contact outputs, eliminates the phase locking, and strongly attenuates the magnetoresistance coupling, which indicates that spin waves rather than magnetic fields are the primary interaction mechanism.     

Ordinary and extraordinary Coulomb blockade magnetoresistance in a (Ga, Mn)As single electron transistor

In the conventional Ohmic regime, magnetoresistance effects comprise the ordinary responses to the external magnetic field and extraordinary responses to the internal magnetization. Here we study magnetoresistance effects in the Coulomb blockade regime using a ferromagnetic (Ga, Mn)As single electron transistor. We report measurements of the magneto-Coulomb blockade effect due to the direct coupling of high external magnetic fields and the Coulomb blockade anisotropic magnetoresistance associated with magnetization rotations in the ferromagnet. The latter, extraordinary magnetoresistance effect is characterized by low-field hysteretic magnetoresistance which can exceed three orders of magnitude. The sign and size of this magnetoresistance signal is controlled by the gate voltage, and the data are interpreted in terms of anisotropic electrochemical shifts induced by magnetization reorientations. Non-volatile transistor-like applications of the Coulomb blockade anisotropic magnetoresistance are briefly discussed.     

Mean-free path effects in magnetoresistance of ferromagnetic nanocontacts

We investigated the mean-free path effects on the magnetoresistance of ferromagnetic nanocontacts. For most combinations of parameters the magnetoresistance monotonously decreases with increasing the contact cross-section. However, for a certain choice of parameters the calculations show non-monotonous behavior of the magnetoresistance in the region in which the diameter of the contact becomes comparable with the mean-free path of electrons. We attribute this effect to different conduction regimes in the vicinity of the nanocontact: ballistic for electrons of one spin projection, and simultaneously diffusive for the other. Furthermore, at certain combinations of spin asymmetries of the bulk mean-free paths in a heterocontact, the magnetoresistance can be almost constant, or may even grow as the contact diameter increases. Thus, our calculations suggest a way to search for combinations of material parameters, for which high magnetoresistances can be achieved not only at the nanometric size of the contact, but also at much larger cross-sections of nanocontacts which can be easier for fabriaction with current technologies. The trial calculations of the magnetoresistance with material parameters close to those for the Mumetal-Ni heterocontacts agree satisfactorily with the available experimental data.     

Anisotropic magnetoresistance and spin-valve effect in all-metal mesoscopic spin-valve devices

We have fabricated all-metal lateral spin-valve devices consisting of two permalloy electrodes and an interconnecting aluminum strip. The micromagnetic behavior of the device has been imaged with a magnetic-force microscope in external magnetic fields at room temperature. During a single cooling cycle at temperatures between 2 and 120 K we have measured the anisotropic magnetoresistance of both electrodes and the magnetoresistance of the entire device. In the latter, we can clearly identify the contributions of the anisotropic magnetoresistance and the mesoscopic spin-valve effect.     

Anisotropic magnetoresistance and anisotropic tunneling magnetoresistance due to quantum interference in ferromagnetic metal break junctions

We measure the low-temperature resistance of permalloy break junctions as a function of contact size and the magnetic field angle in applied fields large enough to saturate the magnetization. For both nanometer-scale metallic contacts and tunneling devices we observe large changes in resistance with the angle, as large as 25% in the tunneling regime. The pattern of magnetoresistance is sensitive to changes in bias on a scale of a few mV. We interpret the effect as a consequence of conductance fluctuations due to quantum interference.     

The effects of macroscopic inhomogeneities on the magnetotransport properties of the electron gas in two dimensions

In experiments on electron transport, the macroscopic inhomogeneities in the sample play a fundamental role. In this paper and a subsequent one, we introduce and develop a general formalism that captures the principal features of sample inhomogeneities (density gradients, contact misalignments) in the magnetoresistance data taken from low-mobility heterostructures. We present detailed assessments and experimental investigations of the different regimes of physical interest, notably the regime of semiclassical transport at weak magnetic fields, the plateau–plateau transitions as well as the plateau–insulator transition that generally occurs at much stronger values of the external field only.It is shown that the semiclassical regime at weak fields plays an integral role in the general understanding of the experiments on the quantum Hall regime. The results of this paper clearly indicate that the plateau–plateau transitions, unlike the plateau–insulator transition, are fundamentally affected by the presence of sample inhomogeneities. We propose a universal scaling result for the magnetoresistance parameters. This result facilitates, amongst many other things, a detailed understanding of the difficulties associated with the experimental methodology of H.P. Wei et al. in extracting the quantum critical behavior of the electron gas from the transport measurements conducted on the plateau–plateau transitions.     

High-field magnetoresistance of noble metals containing rare-earth impurities

We report on magnetoresistance measurements in longitudinal and transverse magnetic fields up to 320 kG for silver and gold containing rare-earth impurities. We focus mainly on the strong anisotropy of the magnetoresistance related to the scattering of conduction electrons by the 4f quadrupoles (non-S ions) and we derive the magnitude of the electron-quadrupole interaction from the analysis of the results. We also consider the isotropic contribution to the magnetoresistance due to exchange scattering. In a number of alloys this contribution is negative in low fields, as this is usually observed in magnetic alloys, but becomes positive in high fields. This change of spin can be ascribed to crystal-field effects.     

Magnetoresistive effect in RCu<Subscript>3</Subscript>Mn<Subscript>4</Subscript>O<Subscript>12</Subscript> perovskite-like oxides

The electrical properties of and the magnetoresistive effect in RCu₃Mn₄O₁₂ (R=rare-earth ion or Th) are studied. In all compounds of this series, the magnetoresistive effect amounts to 20% at liquid nitrogen temperature in the presence of a field of 0.9 T. An increase in the magnetoresistance with decreasing temperature and a high sensitivity to weak magnetic fields at low temperatures point to the intergranular nature of the effect. The magnetoresistance shows a peak in the vicinity of the Curie temperature T_C. Based on the dependences of the magnetoresistance on an external magnetic field, it is assumed that the magnetoresistance peak near T_C is related to the charge carrier scattering by magnetic inhomogeneities as in substituted orthomanganites. We believe that the magnetoresistance value near the magnetic ordering temperature depends on the synthesis conditions and the effect of the intergranular spacer on the transport properties of these compounds.     

Observation of large magnetic resistance in weak magnetic fields using CuPt/SiO2/Si/SiO2/CuPt structure

The magnetoresistive effect of CuPt(8 nm)/SiO₂(5 nm)/Si(50,000 nm)/SiO₂(5 nm)/CuPt(8 nm) structure made by e-beam evaporation technique is studied in this work. Variation in magnetoresistance obtained by I-V measurements at 77 K and in the presence of less than 5 mT magnetic field applied in parallel to the surface is investigated. We have found that this structure exhibit large magnetoresistance in low magnetic fields (i.e. <5 mT). Our results also indicate that the variation in magnetoresistance in the presence of external magnetic field has oscillatory behavior and has the maximum value of 3295%. This structure due to its high sensitivity to low magnetic fields can also be used as an active element in magnetic field sensor devices.     

Anomalous interlayer magnetoresistance in bilayer crystals

The interlayer magnetotransport of a model layered metal is calculated semiclassically. Each layer contains parallel quasi-1D wires but the orientation of wires within each layer is perpendicular to the orientation of wires in adjacent layers. The model has a highly anisotropic amplitude for interlayer electron transfer and is used to illustrate simply the effects that this anisotropy has on the magnetotransport. Strong positive magnetoresistance is calculated for magnetic fields parallel to the current, with the size of magnetoresistance varying inversely with the interlayer hopping amplitude. For fields perpendicular to the current, the magnetoresistance depends qualitatively on the orientation of the field: it scales linearly with the field strength B when the field points toward intersections of 1D Fermi surfaces belonging to individual layers, and scales as √B when the field points between intersections. In a weak field, the resistance is maximum when the field is orientated parallel to the current and minimum when it is perpendicular to the current. Magnetoresistance oscillations are also studied. The implications for more general models of multilayer metals are discussed.     

Anisotropic magnetoresistance in electrodeposited cobalt antidot arrays

Nanosphere lithography is a simple and accessible technique for nanostructuring of materials. Combined with electrodeposition, it allows the production of compact, ordered antidot networks. In contrast to other lithographic techniques, the resulting nanostructure shows periodicity also along the growth axis. Interesting results are expected for the magnetoresistive behavior of such structures as function of thickness, due to the confinement of electronic routes and the strong shape anisotropy. We were able to electrodeposit cobalt antidot structures of homogeneous and controlled thickness directly over silicon substrates. Room temperature anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) as function of thickness and nanosphere diameter are presented, with the magnetic field applied in plane, transverse to the applied current. An overlap of two effects is observed. At fields lower than 2 kOe typical hysteretic AMR peaks appear around the coercive field, and tend to disappear for thicker films. At higher fields, a reversible contribution, caused by the forced magnetization that rotates the spin away from the local current direction, lowers the magnetoresistance, before it reaches its saturation value.     

Bipolaron mechanism for organic magnetoresistance

We present a mechanism for the recently discovered magnetoresistance in disordered pi-conjugated materials, based on hopping of polarons and bipolaron formation, in the presence of the random hyperfine fields of the hydrogen nuclei and an external magnetic field. Within a simple model we describe the magnetic field dependence of the bipolaron density. Monte Carlo simulations including on-site and longer-range Coulomb repulsion show how this leads to positive and negative magnetoresistance. Depending on the branching ratio between bipolaron formation or dissociation and hopping rates, two different line shapes in excellent agreement with experiment are obtained.     

Magnetoresistance of carbon-covered Co nanowires

We have investigated the magnetoresistance of carbon-coated Co nanowires with various widths down to w=32 nm at low temperatures (T=4.2 K). The nanowires and their non-magnetic contact pads are prepared by means of a three-step electron beam lithography (EBL) process in a LEO secondary electron microscope. We obtain wires with highest quality by using specifically customized resist systems with undercut. The longitudinal magnetoresistance shows pronounced features at the coercive fields H_c—where H_c increases with decreasing wire width as —indicating a magnetization reversal process accomplished by domain nucleation and traversal. In contrast, the transverse and perpendicular magnetoresistance continuously decrease to their saturation values which can be understood in terms of a coherent rotation of the magnetization using the anisotropic magnetoresistance.     

The effects of electric and magnetic fields on the current spin polarization and magnetoresistance in a ferromagnetic/organic semiconductor/ferromagnetic（FM/OSC/FM） system

From experimental results of spin polarized injection and transport in organic semiconductors(OSCs),we theoretically study the current spin polarization and magnetoresistance under an electric and a magnetic field in a ferromagnetic/organic semiconductor/ferromagnetic(FM/OSC/FM) sandwich structure according to the spin drift-diffusion theory and Ohm’s law.From the calculations,it is found that the interfacial current spin polarization is enhanced by several orders of magnitude through tuning the magnetic and electric fields by taking into account the specific characteristics of OSC.Furthermore,the effects of the electric and magnetic fields on the magnetoresistance are also discussed in the sandwich structure.     

Description of the Colossal Magnetoresistance of La 1.2 Sr 1.8 Mn 2 O 7 Based on the Spin-Polaron Conduction Mechanism in the Ferromagnetic Temperature Range

We have analyzed the resistance of La1.2Sr1.8Mn2(1 – z)O7 single crystal in magnetic fields from 0 to 90 kOe in the ferromagnetic temperature range. The observed magnetoresistance of La1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7 is described based on the spin-polaron conduction mechanism. The magnetoresistance is determined by the change in the sizes and magnetic moment directions of magnetic inhomogeneities (polarons). It is shown that the colossal magnetoresistance is ensured by an increase (along the magnetic field) of the polaron linear size. It is found using the method for separating the contributions of different conduction mechanisms to the magnetoresistance that the contribution to the magnetoresistance from the orientation mechanism at 80 K in low magnetic fields is close to 50%. With increasing magnetic field, this contribution decreases and becomes small in fields exceeding 30 kOe. The comparable contributions to the conductivity from the orientational and spin-polaron mechanisms unambiguously necessitate the inclusion of both conduction mechanisms in the magnetoresistance calculations. We have calculated the temperature variation of the polaron size (in relative units) in zero magnetic field and in a magnetic field of 90 kOe.     

Experimental determination technique for magnetic anisotropy of individual nanowires

We present an experimental technique to determine the magnetic anisotropy of ferromagnetic nanowires. In the technique, the magnetization state is monitored by measuring the anisotropic magnetoresistance with rotating the external magnetic field. The measured magnetoresistance curves exhibit basically the same curves typically appeared in the torque magnetometric measurements, which are then readily analyzed based on the Stoner–Wohlfarth theory with a single fitting parameter – the magnetic anisotropy. By applying the present technique to Permalloy nanowires, it is shown that the shape anisotropy in real nanowires is significantly influenced by the edge roughness.     

多层膜巨磁电阻特性及电流最佳测量

测量了不同方向外磁场和温度下多层膜巨磁电阻的磁阻特性,给出了巨磁电阻模拟传感器用于电流测量的最佳磁偏置.结果表明:外磁场强度相同但方向不同,对巨磁电阻的作用效果不同,巨磁电阻饱和时,阻值与外磁场方向无关.温度不同,巨磁电阻的阻值不同,磁电阻变化率也有改变.     

Spin-polarized transport in all-metal mesoscopic spin-valve devices

In spintronic devices the spin of the electron as well as its charge is utilized. We have fabricated a spin-valve device consisting of two permalloy electrodes which are connected by a normal-metal strip made of aluminum. By changing the relative alignment of the magnetizations of the electrodes the resistance of the device can be controlled. The domain configurations of the electrodes are imaged by magnetic-force microscopy in external fields at room temperature. In transport measurements at temperatures between 1.8 and 150 K we identify the observed magnetoresistance as a spin-valve effect.     

Mechanism of the hysteretic behavior of the magnetoresistance of granular HTSCs: The universal nature of the width of the magnetoresistance hysteresis loop

The hysteretic behavior of the magnetoresistance R(H) of granular high-temperature superconductors (HTSCs) of the Y-Ba-Cu-O, Bi-Ca-Sr-Cu-O, and La-Sr-Cu-O classical systems is investigated for transport current densities lower and higher than the critical density (at H = 0). All systems exhibit universal behavior of the width of the magnetoresistance hysteresis loop: independence of transport current under identical external conditions. This means that flux trapping in HTSC grains is the main mechanism controlling the hysteretic behavior of the magnetoresistance of granular HTSCs, while pinning of Josephson vortices in the intragranular medium makes no appreciable contribution to the formation of magnetoresistance hysteresis (when transport current flows through the sample). Experimental data on relaxation of residual resistance after the action of a magnetic field also confirm this conclusion.