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

M. N. Baibich; J. M. Broto; A. Fert; F. Nguyen Van Dau; F. Petroff; P. Etienne; G. Creuzet; A. Friederich; J. Chazelas

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.61.2472

Abstract

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.

Received 24 August 1988

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.61.2472

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Letters from the Past - A PRL Retrospective

2008 marked PRL’s 50th anniversary. As part of the celebrations a collection of milestone Letters was started. The collection contains Letters that have made long-lived contributions to physics, either by announcing significant discoveries, or by initiating new areas of research.

Focus

Nobel Focus: Sensitive Magnetic Sandwich

Published 15 October 2007

The 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics recognizes the discovery of giant magnetoresistance, which allowed dramatic improvements in memory density for disk drives (revised 23 October).

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Authors & Affiliations

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. Etienne, G. Creuzet, A. Friederich, and J. Chazelas

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

^*Permanent address: Instituto de Fisica, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, C.P. 15051, 91500 Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

Physical Review Letters