Abstract
We investigate current-perpendicular-plane giant magnetoresistance (CPP-GMR) and current-induced magnetization switching in single-crystalline $\mathrm{Fe}∕\mathrm{Ag}∕\mathrm{Fe}$ nanopillars of $70\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{nm}$ diameter. The interplay between the in-plane, fourfold magnetocrystalline anisotropy of the Fe(001) layers and the spin-transfer torque (STT) gives rise to a two-step switching behavior, which allows an investigation of the angular dependences of CPP-GMR and spin-transfer torque. Both behave asymmetrically with respect to the perpendicular alignment of the two Fe layer magnetizations as theoretically predicted due to strong spin accumulation at the $\mathrm{Fe}∕\mathrm{Ag}(001)$ interfaces [M. D. Stiles and D. R. Penn, Phys. Rev. B 61, 3200 (2000)]. The asymmetry parameter determined from the STT data quantitatively agrees with calculated spin-dependent interface resistances, whereas CPP-GMR yields a smaller degree of asymmetry.
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