The Influence of Magnetic Domain Walls on Longitudinal and Transverse Magnetoresistance in.pdfVIP

The Influence of Magnetic Domain Walls on Longitudinal and Transverse Magnetoresistance in Tensile Strained (Ga,Mn)As Epilayers 7 0 G. Xiang and N. Samarth∗ 0 2 Physics Department Materials Research Institute, y a Penn State University, University Park PA 16802 M Abstract 2 2 We present a theoretical analysis of recent experimental measurements of magnetoresistance in ] i Ga Mn As epilayers with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. The model reproduces the field- c 1−x x s l- antisymmetric anomalies observed in the longitudinal magnetoresistance in the planar geometry r t (magnetic field in the epilayer plane and parallel to the current density), as well as the unusual m . t shape of the accompanying transverse magnetoresistance. The magnetoresistance characteristics a m are attributed to circulating currents created by the presence of magnetic domain walls. - d n o PACS numbers: 75.50.Pp,75.70.Ak,75.50.-d c [ 1 v 3 1 2 3 . 5 0 7 0 : v i X r a 1 I. INTRODUCTION Contemporary developments in spintronics1 have generated much interest in the interplay between electrical transport and magnetic domain walls (DWs) in ferromagnetic metals2,3,4,5 and in ferromagnetic semiconductors.6,7,8,9 It is of particular relevance in this context to study the relationship between spin transport and DWs in the “canonical” ferromagnetic semicon- ductor Ga Mn As10,11,12 because this material is a model system for proof-of-concept semi- 1−x x conductor spintronic devices.13,15 Indeed, recent experimental studies of Ga