Pseudo-Hall effect in spin-valve multilayers

Magnetoresistance and the pseudo-Hall effect in NiFe/Cu/NiFe/FeMn spin-valve multilayers were measured simultaneously in fields rotating in the film plane. Large pseudo-Hall voltages have been observed when the magnetization of the free layer was perpendicular to the sensing current, which was applied along the magnetization of the pinned layer. The pseudo-Hall voltages cannot be explained by treating the anisotropic magnetoresistance of the two permalloy layers independently. Such a cross effect of the free and pinned layers on the anisotropic magnetoresistance is dependent upon the angle between their magnetization. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(99)00105-9].