Perspectives of Giant Magnetoresistance

Authors

Evgeny Y. Tsymbal, University of OxfordFollow
David G. Pettifor, University of OxfordFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2001

Citation

Published in Solid State Physics, ed. by H. Ehrenreich and F. Spaepen, Vol. 56 (Academic Press, 2001) pp.113-237

Comments

Copyright © 2001 Academic Press. Used by Permission

Abstract

Giant magnetoresistance (GMR) is one of the most fascinating discoveries in thin-film magnetism, which combines both tremendous technological potential and deep fundamental physics. Within a decade of GMR being discovered in 1988 commercial devices based on this phenomenon, such as hard-disk read-heads, magnetic field sensors and magnetic memory chips, had become available in the market. These achievements would not have been possible without a detailed understanding of the physics of GMR, which requires a quantum-mechanical insight into the electronic spin-dependent transport in magnetic structures.