While most transport measurements on multilayered structures have been done for currents in the plane of the layers, there is an emerging interest in the geometry where the currents are perpendicular to the plane of the layers. We discuss the field and current patterns in these two cases. For the latter, the elastic mean free path is not a relevant length scale; rather, it is the spin-flip mean free path that is important. In the case of currents perpendicular to the plane of the layers, one must distinguish between models which allow spin mixing of the currents and those in which the currents from the spin-up and spin-down electrons do not mix.

• Received 24 August 1992

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.47.4735