Including fringe fields from a nearby ferromagnet in a percolation theory of organic magnetoresistance

TL;DR

This paper extends a theory of organic magnetoresistance to include fringe fields from nearby ferromagnets, explaining experimental observations of their significant impact on magnetoresistance.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical framework that incorporates fringe fields into existing models, capturing their large magnitudes and correlation lengths.

Findings

The theory matches experimental features of fringe-field magnetoresistance.

It predicts the field ranges where magnetoresistance effects are maximized.

The model explains the sign and extrema of the magnetoresistance caused by fringe fields.

Abstract

Random hyperfine fields are essential to mechanisms of low-field magnetoresistance in organic semiconductors. Recent experiments have shown that another type of random field --- fringe fields due to a nearby ferromagnet --- can also dramatically affect the magnetoresistance. A theoretical analysis of the effect of these fringe fields is challenging, as the fringe field magnitudes and their correlation lengths are orders of magnitude larger than that of the hyperfine couplings. We extend a recent theory of organic magnetoresistance to calculate the magnetoresistance with both hyperfine and fringe fields present. This theory describes several key features of the experimental fringe-field magnetoresistance, including the applied fields where the magnetoresistance reaches extrema, the applied field range of large magnetoresistance effects from the fringe fields, and the sign of the effect.