Abstract
Magnetoresistive effects exceeding are found at room temperature in a field of 7 mT in nanocontacts between crystallites. The shape of the curve depends on field and the magnitude of the magnetoresistance is correlated with the resistance, the largest effects occurring when . The explanation proposed involves hopping transport of spin-polarized electrons through a narrow domain wall pinned at the nanocontact; spin pressure on the domain wall pushes it out into the electrode, leading to the nonlinearity of the characteristic. Application of current-induced wall motion in a simple fast-switching magnetic memory element is proposed.
- Received 16 January 2001
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.026601
©2001 American Physical Society