LAUSR

Abstract The effect of a giant magnetic resistivity in a magneto-ordered Co/Cu/Co sandwich is experimentally investigated and theoretically analyzed using a phenomenological approach (resistor and two-current models). It is shown that for the boundary values of the thickness dm2 of the covering (upper) magnetic layer compared to the thickness dm1 of the base (lower) magnetic layer, the effect is negligibly small. In performing the inequality dm2 ≪ dm1, the resistance of the covering layer is shunted by the resistance of the base layer, while when the opposite inequality dm2 ≫ dm1 is performed, the contrasting situation is observed, namely: the resistance of the coating layer shunts (shunted) the resistance of the base magnetic layer. If the thicknesses of the magnetic layers are of the same size (dm2–dm1), the shunting effect is absent, and the magnitude of the giant magnetoresistance reaches its maximum value. According to the results of an experimental study of this effect, the method for calculating the bulk asymmetry parameter in the scattering of spin-polarized electrons and the resistivity of the minority electrons is proposed for the first time, assuming that the resistivity of the spin channel of the majority charge carriers coincides with the resistivity of the nonmagnetic layer.