Interface roughness effects in the giant magnetoresistance in magnetic multilayers

In-plane electronic transport in thin layered magnetic structures composed of two ferromagnetic films separated by a nonmagnetic spacer is analyzed theoretically in the Born approximation. Particular attention is paid to the role of interface roughness in the giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect. The analysis applies to self-affine interfaces described by the k-correlation model. Our results show that GMR is sensitive to the roughness exponent H (0 less than or equal to H less than or equal to 1) in a manner that depends on spin asymmetries for bulk and interfacial scattering. The limit of low electron concentration is also considered. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.