Theory of giant magnetoresistance effects in magnetic layered structures with antiferromagnetic coupling

Abstract

We present a simple theoretical description of recently measured giant magnetoresistance effects in Fe/Cr layered structures. The resistivity is calculated by solving the Boltzmann transport equation with spin-dependent scattering at the interfaces. The magnitude of the effect depends on the ratio of the layer thickness to the mean free path and on the asymmetry in scattering for spin-up and spin-down electrons. Good agreement with experiment is found for both sandwich structures and superlattices.