Magnetoresistance and Strain in Permalloy Films

We measure the magnetoresistance (MR) of sputtered Permalloy ($Ni_{83}Fe_{17}$) films with external strains produced by piezoelectric tranducer actuators. We observe that the MR raito was increased by 2.3 times by a compressive strain of $3.5{\times}10^{-4}$ compared to that of the as-deposited film. Tensile strains and compressive strains reduced the MR ratio. These observations suggest that it is possible to tune the MR properties through the use of the external strains. We expect to apply the results for the multi-head magnetic recorders with selectively activated recording heads.