Scaling Behavior of the Giant Anisotropic Magnetoresistance in Thin Films of the Heavy-Fermion Compound CeAl sub 3

High-quality thin films of CeAl sub 3 with preferentially oriented crystal structure have been prepared, allowing unambiguous measurement of the orientation dependence of the magnetoresistance Delta rho : a very large anisotropy is observed. When a magnetic field is applied along the crystal c axis, a positive transverse Delta rho is exhibited over a much larger region of H and T than is the case with bulk polycrystalline samples. Kondo scattering is diminished in this orientation when T is < 6K. Two qualitatively different regimes are observed in which Delta rho is described by universal functions of H/T.