Giant magnetoresistance of repeated multilayers of Cu₃Ni₃ embedded in Cu(100)

Abstract

The resistivity and giant magnetoresistance (GMR) of (Cu₃Ni₃) _n embedded in Cu(100), for n ≤ 11, that originates from the electronic structure of these finite, yet otherwise perfect, systems is calculated for currents in the plane of the layers (CIP) by using the Kubo–Greenwood formula for semi-infinite systems and the fully relativistic, spin-polarized screened Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker method. We find that for this particular type of repeated structure the CIP resistivity decreases from about 6 to 2 cm as the number of repeats increases from 2 to 11, and the CIP-GMR while starting out at 4% for n = 2 goes up to 16% at n = 11.