Tunneling Anisotropic Magnetoresistance in Fe Nanoparticles Embedded in MgO Matrix

The tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) effect is related to the relative orientation of the magnetizations of the two ferromagnetic electrodes in magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs). The tunnel anisotropic magnetoresistance (TAMR) effect is related to the orientation of the magnetization with respect to the current direction or the crystallographic axes. Beyond the TMR, the TAMR is not only present in MTJs in which both electrodes are ferromagnetic but may also appear in tunnel structures with a single magnetic electrode. We investigated the magnetotransport properties in an Au/MgO/Fe nanoparticles/MgO/Cu tunnel junction. We found that both the TMR and TAMR can appear in tunnel junctions with Fe nanoparticles embedded in an MgO matrix. The TMR is attributed to spin-dependent tunneling between Fe nanoparticles, so the device resistance depends on the magnetization directions of adjacent Fe nanoparticles. The TAMR is attributed to the interfacial spin-orbit interaction, so the device resistance depends on each magnetization direction of an Fe nanoparticle. This is the first observation of the TAMR in Fe nanoparticles embedded in an MgO matrix.