Layered Magnetic Structures: Evidence for Antiferromagnetic
Coupling of Fe Layers across Cr Interlayers Grünberg, P.,
Schreiber, R., Pang, Y., Brodsky, M.B., & Sowers, H. (1986)
Layered Magnetic Structures: Evidence for Antiferromagnetic
Coupling of Fe Layers across Cr Interlayers. Phys. Rev. Lett.
57, 2442. Essay about this article In Albert Fert’s thinking
that lead to a realization of GMR, it was necessary to have an
antiferromagnetic coupling between layers so that an external
magnetic field could switch them to parallel alignment. It took
another 20 years to achieve antiferromagnetically aligned
magnetic layers sandwiched between non-magnetic metallic
spacers. This achievement was due largely to a parallel
development in multilayers that used semiconducting elements, in
this case heterostructures. Semiconducting elements have a lower
affinity to interdiffuse at the interfaces between layers than
do metallic elements; therefore one was able to grow
heterostructures by 1980. By following the recipe used fo