Current-direction dependence of the transport properties in single-crystalline face-centered-cubic cobalt films

Face-centered-cubic cobalt films are epitaxially grown on insulating LaAlO3(001) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. Transport measurements are conducted in different current directions relative to the crystal axes. We find that the temperature dependent anisotropic magnetoresistance ratio strongly depends on the current direction. However, the anomalous Hall effect shows isotropic behavior independent of the current direction. Our results demonstrate the interplay between the current direction and the crystalline lattice in single-crystalline ferromagnetic films. A phenomenological analysis is presented to interpret the experimental data. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.