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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2011
The giant magnetoresistance in magnetic superlattices for the current perpendicular to and in the layer planes is studied within a unified semi-classical approach that is based on the Boltzman equation with exact boundary conditions for the spin-dependent distribution functions of conduction electrons. We show that the main differences between the in-plane and perpendicular-to-plane magnetoresistance result from the fact that they originate from different interface processes responsible for spin-dependent scattering. A correlation between the giant magnetoresistance and the superlattice magnetization is also discussed and it is shown that its study has much potential for yielding information about properties of spin-dependent scattering in magnetic superlattices.