Giant magnetoresistance in hybrid nanostructures

We describe the Giant Magnetoresistance (GMR) properties of multilayered structures including continuous layers of permalloy (Ni 80Fe 20) and discontinuous layers of cobalt separated by layers of copper or silver. These hybrid structures exhibit large GMR ratios with high slopes at low field (as high as 7%/Oe). They are also very convenient for an accurate determination of the angular dependence of the GMR and interesting to discuss the origin of the GMR. We finally analyse GMR measurements performed with the current perpendicular to the layers and separate the bulk and interface contributions.