AU-17.doc

GMR and TMR effects in FeCoGd-based spin valves and magnetic tunnel junctions X. J. Bai1, J. Du1,*, J. Zhang1, B. You1, L. Sun1, W. Zhang1, X. S. Wu1, S. L. Tang1, A. Hu1, H. N. Hu2, S. M. Zhou2 1National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, P. R. China 2Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, P. R. China Abstract Giant magnetoresistance (GMR) and tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) were studied in spin valves of FeCo/Cu/(FeCo)1-xGdx and magnetic tunnel junctions of FeCo/AlO/(FeCo)1-xGdx, respectively. When the FeCoGd layer is thick enough, both GMR and TMR ratios change their signs from positive to negative at the compensation composition with 0.293 ( x0 ( 0.337, as the Gd content is increased. This scenario is originated from a competition of rare-earth and transition-metal spins in FeCoGd layers with antiferromagnetic coupling. Accordingly, it is deduced that in FeCoGd layer the spin polarizations PN of electrons at Fermi level and tunneling spin polarization PTSP are negative and positive for x x0, respectively, and vice verse for x x0. PACS numbers: 75.47.Np; 75.50.Gg; 75.70.Cn; 85.75.-d _________________________________________________________________ * Electronic address: jdu@nju.edu.cn Spin polarization of ferromagnetic (FM) alloys near the Fermi surface has attracted much attention because of their importance in both magneto-electronic devices [1] and fundamental research [2-4]. First, the magnitude and sign of giant magnetoresistance (GMR) and tunnelling magnetoresistance (TMR) are strongly related to the spin polarization of the FM alloys. Secondly, the spin polarization of rare-earth transition-metal (RE-TM) alloys is less well understood, compared with transition-metal (TM) and their magnetic alloys. Therefore, exploration of the spin polarization in RE-TM alloys is encouraged. Measurement of TMR in magnetic tunnelling junctions (MTJs) is a convenient and powerful technique to probe the s