Study of the temperature dependence of giant magnetoresistance in metallic granular composite

Abstract The temperature dependence of the giant magnetoresistance of metallic granular composite is studied. It is considered that the composite contains both large magnetic grains with surface spin S′ and small magnetic impurities. It is found that the decrease of surface spin S′ of grain is the main cause of an almost linear decrease of giant magnetoresistance with the increase of temperature in high temperature range. The magnetic impurities, composed of several atoms, lead to an almost linear increase of the giant magnetoresistance with the decrease of temperature in low temperature range. Our calculations are in good agreement with recent experimental data for metallic nanogranular composites.