THE ANISOTROPIC MAGNETORESISTANCE IN FE PT COMPOSITIONALLY MODULATED FILMS/

The anisotropic nature of the resistivity of magnetic multilayers unde r a parallel or perpendicular applied magnetic field is addressed by m agnetoresistivity and hysteresis loop measurements. It is shown that t he observation of anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) at 80 K can prov ide straightforward information on the magnetic properties of successi ve layers in Fe/Pt multilayers. The relative as well as absolute Fe an d Pt thicknesses are critical for the AMR behaviour. For Fe layer thic knesses t(Fe) less than 5 Angstrom both p parallel to and rho perpendi cular to increase initially as a function of the applied field H while for larger t(Fe)rho perpendicular to always decreases. The anomalous AMR for t(Fe) < 5 Angstrom is attributed to an inclination of the Fe m agnetization out of the film's plane.