Lv. Melo et al., INTERFACIAL SPIN-DEPENDENT SCATTERING IN CO-RE ANTIFERROMAGNETICALLY COUPLED MULTILAYERS, Journal of magnetism and magnetic materials, 121(1-3), 1993, pp. 390-394
Magnetoresistance enhancement in antiferromagnetically coupled Co-Re m
ultilayers is discussed in terms of an extended Camley and Barnas mode
l involving both interfacial and bulk spin-dependent scattering. We fi
nd that for Co-Re multilayers, interface scattering alone can explain
all independent sets of experimental data. This was further studied by
adding monolayers of a third element X = Fe, Ni, Cr, Mo to the Co-Re
interface. In the case of Cr or Mo, 1 ML added at the interface is suf
ficient to suppress antiferromagnetic coupling and magnetoresistance e
nhancement. Addition of Fe or Ni at the Co-Re interface is only effect
ive up to 1 ML. For thicker Fe or Ni layers added at the interface the
magnetoresistance remains essentially constant. This is a clear indic
ation of an interface effect.