Mechanism of giant magnetoresistance in intermetallic compounds of rare-earth ions and actinides

Abstract

Giant positive or negative magnetoresistance is calculated in a band model. The spectra of the band electrons in a two-sublattice antiferromagnetic intermetallic compound depend on the antiferromagnetism vector L(T,H). The metamagnetic transition to the ferromagnetic phase is accompanied by splitting with respect to the spin σ, displacement of the energy bands, and a decrease in the effective masses of the band electrons. This mechanism of giant negative magnetoresistance is also accompanied by an increase in the relaxation time τ_jσ. Scattering by chemical-bond fluctuations is considered as the main relaxation mechanism. Giant positive magnetoresistance results from a four-subband model of 4f and 5f intermetallic compounds. The electron effective masses m _jσ(J _jT ) of the (j,σ) bands increase with the mean angular momentum J _1T (T,H) of an ion in the jth sublattice of 4(5)f ions. The thermodynamics of such a four-sublattice model, the nonlinear magnetization and magnetoresistance curves, and the nonmonotonic dependence of the specific heat C _m(T,H) on the field H are calculated.