Tunneling magnetoresistance in ensembles of ferromagnetic granules with exchange interaction and random easy axes of magnetic anisotropy

Abstract

We study the tunneling magnetoresistance in the ensembles of ferromagnetic granules with random easy axes of magnetic anisotropy taking into account the exchange interaction between granules. It is shown that due to the exchange interaction magnetoresistance is effectively decoupled from magnetization, i.e. the strongest negative magnetoresistance can be observed at the field where magnetization is almost saturated. Under some conditions, the sign of magnetoresistance can be reversed and tunneling magnetoresistance can become positive at certain magnetic fields. Our theory agrees with measurements of magnetoresistance in ensembles of Fe granules in SiCxNy matrix.