Possible d-electron tunneling from an amorphous 3d ferrimagnetic metal: GdCo 3

Abstract

Tunneling measurements on amorphous GdCo 3 films are presented and discussed in detail on the basis of recent theories which take into consideration the Coulomb interaction of electrons in a disordered material. It is found that McMillan scaling approach cannot be meaningfully used for quantitative analysis. In contrast, Altshuler and Aronov theory can account for the form and magnitude of the anomaly, provided one includes d-electrons as tunneling current carriers. This offers strong evidence for d-electron tunneling from a-GdCo 3.