Hcp (10.0) Co/Re superlattices were grown by dc magnetron sputtering on sapphire (11.0) substrates with the [00.1] direction of the superlattice in the film plane. The temperature-dependent magnetoresistance (MR) was measured on samples patterned by photolithography from 10 K to 300 K in a 5.5 T superconducting magnet. The pattern allows the measurement of the MR with the current (/) and the magnetic field (H) parallel or perpendicular to the magnetic easy axis (c, the [00.1] direction). Measurements at 5 K on an antiferromagnetically-coupled sample shows dips in the MR near H = 0 when H ]F c and H lI, dips below the saturation value at H -2.5 kOe for H II c and H I I configuration due to the competition between the anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) and the giant magnetoresistance (GMR). Since the AMR is dependent on the transport within the ferromagnetic layers, the temperature dependence yields information about the relative magnitudes of interface vs. bulk spin-dependent scattering. Our analysis shows that the GMR is anisotropic and that the spin-dependent scattering occurs predominantly at the interfaces only for certain configurations.
INTRODUCTIONGiant magnetoresistance (GMR), discovered in the late 1980's [1], which occurs in magnetic multilayers and nanoparticles, and the anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR), extensively studied since the 1930's in bulk ferromagnetic materials [2], are effects that have been recently under intense scrutiny due to their technological applications. Only relatively recently, however, have these two effects been studied in the same system. Some previously studied systems with both AMR and GMR include Co/Cr [3], Fe/Cr [4,5], Co/Ru [6], Co/Cu [7,8] and Permalloy/Cu [9] multilayers. These include experiments which separate the AMR and GMR in the same system [7] and experiments which focus on the enhancement of the GMR by AMR in systems with magnetocrystalline anisotropy, like Co/Cr multilayers [3].A topic of great current interest is determining the nature of the spin-dependent scattering responsible for GMR. Experiments where a monolayer or two of a magnetic material were added to the interface of a spin-valve [ 10] and the dependence of the GMR on interface roughness on Fe/Cr [4] show that in those systems the GMR depends strongly on scattering at the interfaces. But other studies show that the GMR depends on the film layer thickness [11], and that the GMR is dominated by bulk spin-dependent scattering [12].Here we summarize the results of a recent, comprehensive study of the temperature-