Large magnetoresistance in rapidly solidified bismuth

Rapidly solidified, annealed ribbons (20 μm thick) of elemental Bi show a room-temperature ordinary magnetoresistive effect of 250% at 5 T with the field applied perpendicular to the ribbon surface. The effect increases to 10000% at 5 K and 5 T. These values are intermediate to those obtained for single-crystal Bi films and sputtered or evaporated polycrystalline Bi films of comparable thicknesses. The large magnetoresistance of the ribbons is attributed to a very good crystallinity and partial c -axis texture of the ribbon achieved during solidification. Rapid solidification by melt spinning is a promising technique for synthesis of Bi with potential application in magnetoelectric devices.