Antisymmetric Magnetoresistance in Magnetic Multilayers with Perpendicular Anisotropy

Authors

Xuemei Cheng, Bryn Mawr CollegeFollow
S. Urazhdin
O. Tchernyshyov
C. L. Chien
V. I. Nikitenko
A. J. Shapiro
R. D. Shull

Document Type

Article

Version

Publisher's PDF

Publication Title

Physical Review Letters

Volume

94

Publication Date

2005

Abstract

While magnetoresistance (MR) has generally been found to be symmetric in applied field in nonmagnetic or magnetic metals, we have observed antisymmetric MR in Co/Pt multilayers. Simultaneous domain imaging and transport measurements show that antisymmetric MR is due to the appearance of domain walls that run perpendicular to both the magnetization and the current, a geometry existing only in materials with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. As a result, the extraordinary Hall effect gives rise to circulating currents in the vicinity of domain walls that contributes to the MR. The antisymmetric MR and extraordinary Hall effect have been quantitatively accounted for by a theoretical model.

Publisher's Statement

© 2005 by the American Physical Society. The publisher's version of the article can be found at http://prl.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v94/i1/e017203.

Citation

X. M. Cheng et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 17203 (2005).