Giant magnetoresistance due to spin-dependent interface scattering

Abstract

Spin-dependent electrical resistivity due to scattering by displaced interface atoms has been computed for a layered CuCo superlattice, using full-potential multiple-scattering theory with no free parameters. The magnetoresistance ratio Delta R/R( up arrow up arrow ) obtained for this scattering mechanism is 25.03. When interface resistivity, weighted by interpretation concentration c approximately=0.10, is combined with bulk resistivity, Delta R/R is in the expected experimental range for adjacent CuCoCu layers. This resistance mechanism produces spin-dependent steady-state chemical potentials, relevant to the bipolar spin switch.