Abstract

We report on an ab initio study of giant magnetoresistance (GMR) and current-induced torques (CITs) in Cr Au Cr trilayers that is based on nonequilibrium Green's functions and spin-density functional theory. We find substantial GMR due primarily to a spin-dependent resonance centered at the Cr Au interface and predict that the CITs are strong enough to switch the antiferromagnetic order parameter at current densities ∼100 times smaller than switching current densities in ferromagnetic metal circuits. © 2007 The American Physical Society.