ELECTRON-SCATTERING AT INTERFACES - A TIGHT-BINDING APPROACH

We examine, within the tight-binding approximation, the transmission a nd reflection coefficients at a bimetallic interface as a function of the interface atomic structure. This is a crucial issue in the study o f electronic transport in multilayered system in general, and the so-c alled giant magnetoresistance in magnetic multilayers in particular. W e have investigated the effect of an additional thin layer of a differ ent material at the interface (analogous to delta doping in semiconduc tors). We find that, depending on the electronic structure of the mate rials, the reflection coefficient may be either enhanced or suppressed , and that the presence of interface electronic states causes dramatic increases in the reflection coefficient.