Effect of Impurities and Effective Masses on Spin-Dependent Electrical Transport in Ferromagnet-Normal Metal-Ferromagnet Hybrid Junctions

TL;DR

This study investigates how nonmagnetic impurities and electron effective masses influence spin-dependent electrical transport in ferromagnet-normal metal-ferromagnet junctions, revealing their significant effects on conductance and magnetoresistance behaviors.

Contribution

It introduces a two-band model analysis showing the impact of impurities and effective masses on conductance oscillations and magnetoresistance in such junctions, highlighting impurity-induced resonant tunneling.

Findings

Impurities suppress conductance amplitudes and reduce the spin-valve effect.

Impurities and effective masses cause nonmonotonous oscillations of junction magnetoresistance.

Smaller differences in effective masses lead to larger magnetoresistance amplitudes.

Abstract

The effect of nonmagnetic impurities and the effective masses on the spin-dependent transport in a ferromagnet-normal metal-ferromagnet junction is investigated on the basis of a two-band model. Our results show that impurities and the effective masses of electrons in two ferromagnetic electrodes have remarkable effects on the behaviors of the conductance, namely, both affect the oscillating amplitudes, periods, as well as the positions of the resonant peaks of the conductance considerably. The impurity tends to suppress the amplitudes of the conductance, and makes the spin-valve effect less obvious, but under certain conditions the phenomenon of the so-called impurity-induced resonant tunneling is clearly observed. The impurity and the effective mass both can lead to nonmonotonous oscillation of the junction magnetoresistance (JMR) with the incident energy and the thickness of the normal metal. It is also observed that a smaller difference of the effective masses of electrons in two ferromagnetic electrodes would give rise to a larger amplitude of the JMR.