Energy Citations Database
Bookmark and Share

Bibliographic Citation

 
Document
For copies of Journal Articles, please contact the Publisher or your local public or university library and refer to the information in the Resource Relation field.
For copies of other documents, please see the Availability, Publisher, Research Organization, Resource Relation and/or Author (affiliation information) fields and/or Document Availability.
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.52.13399
Title First-principles calculations of electrical conductivity and giant magnetoresistance of Co{vert_bar}Cu{vert_bar}Co spin valves
Creator/Author Butler, W.H. ; Zhang, X. ; Nicholson, D.M.C. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6114 (United States)] ; MacLaren, J.M. [Department of Physics, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118 (United States)]
Publication Date1995 Nov 01
OSTI IdentifierOSTI ID: 122332
DOE Contract NumberAC05-84OR21400
Other Number(s)Journal ID: PRBMDO; ISSN 0163-1829; TRN: TRN: 9521M0096
Resource TypeJournal Article
Resource RelationJournal Name: Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter; Journal Volume: 52; Journal Issue: 18; Other Information: PBD: 1 Nov 1995
Research OrgOak Ridge National Laboratory
Subject36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; COBALT; MAGNETORESISTANCE; COPPER; ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY; ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE; GREEN FUNCTION; INTERFACES; KUBO FORMULA; SCATTERING
Description/AbstractWe show that the Kubo formula can be used to calculate the nonlocal electrical conductivity of layered systems from first principles. We use the layer Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker method to calculate the electronic structure and Green function of a slab of copper embedded in cobalt. The electronic structure is calculated self-consistently within the local density approximation to density functional theory. We use the Green function to evaluate the Kubo formula and calculate the conductivity for both majority and minority spins and for alignment and antialignment of the Co moments on either side of the Cu spacer layers. This allows us to determine the giant magnetoresistance from first principles. We investigate three possibilities for the scattering in Co{vert_bar}Cu{vert_bar}Co: (i) equal electron lifetimes for Cu, majority-spin Co, and minority-spin Co, (ii) equal electron lifetimes for majority and minority Co, weaker scattering in Cu, and spin-dependent interfacial scattering, (iii) electron lifetimes for majority- and minority-spin cobalt proportional to their Fermi energy densities of states, spin-dependent interfacial scattering, and spin-independent boundary scattering.
Country of PublicationUnited States
LanguageEnglish
FormatMedium: X; Size: pp. 13399-13410
System Entry Date2008 Sep 15

Top