Giant magnetoresistance with current perpendicular to the layer planes of Ag/Co and AgSn/Co multilayers (invited)

Abstract
A two‐channel model of electronic conduction is shown to provide a satisfactory description of the magnetoresistances of Ag/Co and AgSn/Co multilayers with the current flowing perpendicular to the layer planes. A combination of data for as‐prepared samples at magnetic field H=0 (for which the magnetization M≊0), and for the same samples in the ferromagnetically ordered state, is used to extract ‘‘best’’ spin‐orientation‐dependent parameters of αCo=2.9(+0.5,−0.3) and αCo/Ag=12(+5,−2) from Ag/Co data and αCo=2.4(+1,−0.7) and αCo/AgSn=11(+7,−4) from AgSn/Co data.