Interfacial scattering effect on anomalous Hall effect in Ni/Au multilayers

Abstract

The effect of interfacial scattering on anomalous Hall effect (AHE) was studied in the (Ni36/n nm/Au12/n nm)n multilayers. Field-dependent Hall resistivity was measured in the temperature range of 5-300 K with the magnetic field up to 50 kOe. The anomalous Hall resistivity (PAHE) was enhanced by more than six times at 5 K from n = 1 to n = 12 due to the increased interfacial scattering, whereas the longitudinal resistivity (Pxx) was increased nearly three times. A scaling relation PAHE ∼ Pxxγ with γ = 1.85 was obtained for PAHE and Pxx measured at 5 K, indicating that the dominant mechanism(s) of the AHE in these multilayers should be side-jump or/and intrinsic in nature. The new scaling relation PAHE = αPxx0 + βPxx02 + bPxx2 (Tian et al 2009 Phys. Rev. Lett. 103 087206) has been applied to our data to identify the origin of the AHE in this type of multilayer.