Thin Metallic multilayer films have become an important part in today's computer technology. The giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect, which plays a central role here, was discovered in the late 1980s. This can be essentially described as the effect of a magnetic field on the electron transport leading to significant changes in the resistance. Other aspects of multilayers systems, such as stability, growth, confinement are also addressed. Theoretical and experimental methods used in such work are described in some detail, with special emphasis on density functional and spin density functional theories. Magnetic anisotropy in thin films is also discussed while addressing unresolved issues and new results from exchange-bias experiments.

Author Biography

The author has worked on the theory of electronic and magnetic properties of surfaces, interfaces, multilayers and nanostructures during the past 20 years, having published numerous articles on the above topics. He has also taught related graduate courses such as solid-state physics and quantum mechanics during the past 15 years. I have published 100 research papers on magnetic, electric, optical and hyperfine properties of metals, alloys, crystalline and amorphous semiconductors. 10 students have completed their Ph.D. thesis under my supervision. I have been doing research on Heavy-Fermion Systems since 1982 and published several papers to explain their properties.