Electron scattering mechanisms in giant magnetoresistance computed by the LACO full‐potential method

The linearized atomic‐cell orbital (LACO) method for local density functional calculations has been implemented in a program package for energy bands and valence shell energies of regular periodic solids. This method has been used to compute spin‐dependent electrical resistivity due to scattering by displaced interface atoms in a layered CuCo superlattice. The magnetoresistance ratio ΔR/R(⇈) obtained for this scattering mechanism is 25.03. When the computed interface resistivity is weighted by estimated interpenetration concentration and combined with bulk resistivity, ΔR/R reduces to the expected experimental magnitude for adjacent CuCoCu layers. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Copyright © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.