REU Student: Heather Faltin, Mentor: Anne Reilly

The goal of this work is to produce magnetic thin films which display giant magnetoresistance(GMR), study the magnetic properties through magnetic force microscopy, and correlate the results with the GMR measurement. This summer, I attempted to grow a thin film, began modifying an Atomic Force Microscope(AFM) into a Magnetic Force Microscop(MFM), and setup an apparatus for measuring GMR.