Giant magnetoresistance in magnetic nanostructures

This chapter contains a brief review of the giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect exhibited by magnetic multilayers, granular alloys, and related materials. Subjects covered include a description of the phenomenon, and the related oscillatory interlayer exchange coupling in magnetic multilayers; a simple model of giant magnetoresistance; the inverse GMR effect in spin-engineered magnetic multilayers; structures that display large changes in resistance in small magnetic fields, possibly for use in magnetic field sensors; and the dependence of GMR on various aspects of the magnetic structures.