The interlayer magnetoresistance of a metallic sandwich junction, i.e., a junction of the form MM′M, where M is an atomic layer of one metal and M′ an atomic layer of a different metal, is calculated semiclassically. According to the picture developed below, an electron follows a semiclassical cyclotron orbit on one M layer and, upon reaching an intersection between M and M′ Fermi surfaces, can tunnel to the other M layer via M′. It tunnels back to the original M layer at a different Fermi surface intersection, having accumulated a magnetic field-dependent phase factor. The resulting angle-dependent magnetoresistance oscillations exhibit discrete frequencies, associated with pairs of intersections of the M and M′ Fermi surfaces. These oscillations persist down to relatively weak magnetic fields because they are less susceptible to destructive interference than the continuum of frequencies seen for bilayer MM junctions. The MM′M trilayer exhibits large magnetoresistance with fields perpendicular to the junction because an increase in cyclotron frequency reduces the tunneling probability at Fermi surface intersections. The distinctive magnetoresistance of the trilayer junction could be exploited to study the electronic structure of metallic interfaces.
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