ANOMALOUS MAGNETORESISTANCE IN LAB6 THIN-FILMS

Thin films of LaB6 were prepared on sapphire, Si and GaAs by electron-beam deposition. Superconductivity was not observed above 1.6 K, and the anomalous magnetoresistance, associated with the weak localization effects, indicated that the spin-orbit scattering rather than the magnetic impurity scattering is strong in this film. From the detailed analysis of the magnetoresistance, we estimated the superconducting transition temperature of our sample is, if it exists, less than 40 mK. It turned out that the parallel magnetoresistance is larger in magnitude than the perpendicular one. This large parallel magnetoresistance is beyond the localization theory, and has never been observed in other materials. © 1990, THE PHYSICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN. All rights reserved.