OSCILLATORY BEHAVIOR OF THE TRANSPORT-PROPERTIES IN NI/CO MULTILAYERS - A SUPERLATTICE EFFECT

The resistivity and anisotropic magnetoresistance of Ni/Co multilayers exhibit an oscillatory dependence on Co or Ni layer thickness, with an approximate period of 20 Å. The oscillations disappear as the number of bilayers is reduced, clearly proving that this is a superlattice effect. This is the first time that superlattice effects are observed in the transport properties of metallic multilayers. © 1995 The American Physical Society.