Using magnetoresistive films with unidirectional anisotropy to register elastic deformations

The magnetoresistive properties of FeMn/Fe 10 Ni 90 films with unidirectional anisotropy have been studied under controlled elastic deformation. It has been shown that linear strain or compression significantly affects the magnetic anisotropy of the films and, as a consequence, leads to major changes in magnetoresistance curves. The dependences of the magnetoresistance on the relative deformation have been determined for varied external magnetic field, magnetic biasing, film thickness, and sample geometry. An optimum combination of the listed parameters has been found that corresponds to the maximum sensitivity and nearly anhysteretic type of the tensomagnetoresistive effect.