A. Chaiken, P. Lubitz, J.J. Krebs, G.A. Prinz, and M.Z. Harford, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375
Fe-Cu-Co sandwiches have been grown on glass and silicon
substrates using electron-beam evaporation. Because the
typical coercive field of a thin Co film is higher than that
of a typical Fe film, the magnetization curves of these
sandwiches show clearly the separate, sequential reversal of
the Fe and Co moments as a function of applied field. In the
applied field region where the moments of the two magnetic
layers are antialigned, the spin-valve magnetoresistance
shows a peak of over 3% in amplitude at room
temperature.