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Electric transport perpendicular to the planes
Author(s) -
Herper H. C.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
physica status solidi (b)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1521-3951
pISSN - 0370-1972
DOI - 10.1002/pssb.200642107
Subject(s) - perpendicular , giant magnetoresistance , condensed matter physics , kubo formula , formalism (music) , impurity , electrical resistivity and conductivity , magnetoresistance , materials science , physics , magnetic field , conductivity , geometry , mathematics , quantum mechanics , visual arts , art , musical
Since the discovery of the giant magnetoresistance (GMR) in magnetic multilayers, several theoretical descriptions have been used to determine the resistivity of such layered structures. The resistance for the current in direction of the planes of layers can easily be measured, and has been intensively studied theoretically. However, the investigation of the GMR for the current perpendicular to the planes (CPP) is slightly more difficult. Here, a microscopic formalism for the study of the CPP GMR is reported by making use of the Kubo–Greenwood equation. Within this method perturbations of the interfaces like interdiffusion, alloy formation, or impurities can easily be included, which is of importance, because the discussion of the GMR is always related to the structure of the interfaces. The presentation of the Kubo–Greenwood formalism for CPP transport is complemented by a brief discussion of some exemplary results. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)