Large Tunneling Anisotropic Magnetoresistance mediated by Surface States
Abstract
We investigated the tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance (TAMR) in thick hcp Co films at cryogenic temperatures using scanning tunneling microscopy. At around -350 mV, a strong TAMR up to 30\% is found with a characteristic voltage dependence and a reversal of sign. With the help of ab initio calculations the TAMR can be traced back to a spin-polarized occupied surface states that experience a strong spin-orbit interaction leading to a magnetization direction depending hybridization with bulk states.
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