Effect of domain boundary on the electrical conductivity of a magnetic nanocontact

The conductivity of a magnetic nanocontact with a spin inhomogeneity in the form of a Ginzburg-Bulaevskii domain wall at the center between oppositely magnetized edges is considered. The conductivity of the nanocontact is cal culated in the ballistic approximation for Fe, Co, and Ni in the low-temper ature limit, with allowance made for the spatial major-minor change in the electron spin energy due to exchange splitting in the edges. The calculatio ns are carried out for the limiting cases of long and short nanocontacts. I t is shown that the domain wall formed in a nanocontact causes considerable quantitative and qualitative changes in the dependence of the conductivity on the channel width. (C) 2000 MAIK "Nauka/Interperiodica".