Universal scaling of magnetoconductance in magnetic nanocontacts (Invited)

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Date
2003-05-15Author
Chung, S. H.
Munoz, M.
Garcia, N.
Egelhoff, W. F.
Gomez, R. D.
Citation
S. H. Chung, M. Muñoz, N. García, W. F. Egelhoff, R. D. Gomez, “Universal scaling of magnetoconductance in magnetic nanocontacts”, J. Appl. Phys., 93, (10), 2003, 7939
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Show full item recordAbstract
We present results of half-metallic ferromagnets formed by atomic nanocontact of CrO2– CrO2 and
CrO2–Ni that show as much as 400% magnetoconductance. Analysis of the magnetoconductance
versus conductance data for all materials known to exhibit so-called ballistic magnetoresistance
strongly suggests that the magnetoconductance of nanocontacts follows universal scaling. If the
maximum magnetoconductance is normalized to unity and the conductance is scaled to the
resistivity of the material, then all data points fall into a universal curve that is independent of the
contact material and the transport mechanism. The analysis was applied to all available
magnetoconductance data of magnetic nanocontacts in the literature, and the results agree with
theory that takes into account the spin scattering within a magnetic domain wall.