Influence of in-plane crystalline quality of an antiferromagnet on perpendicular exchange coupling and exchange bias

M. R. Fitzsimmons; C. Leighton; J. Nogués; A. Hoffmann; Kai Liu; C. F. Majkrzak; J. A. Dura; J. R. Groves; R. W. Springer; P. N. Arendt; V. Leiner; H. Lauter; Ivan K. Schuller

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.65.134436

Influence of in-plane crystalline quality of an antiferromagnet on perpendicular exchange coupling and exchange bias

M. R. Fitzsimmons, C. Leighton, J. Nogués, A. Hoffmann, Kai Liu, C. F. Majkrzak, J. A. Dura, J. R. Groves, R. W. Springer, P. N. Arendt, V. Leiner, H. Lauter, and Ivan K. Schuller

Phys. Rev. B 65, 134436 – Published 26 March 2002

Abstract

We have undertaken a systematic study of the influence of in-plane crystalline quality of the antiferromagnet on exchange bias. Polarized neutron reflectometry and magnetometry were used to determine the anisotropies of polycrystalline ferromagnetic (F) Fe thin films exchange coupled to antiferromagnetic (AF) untwinned single crystal (110) ${FeF}_{2},$ twinned single crystal (110) ${FeF}_{2}$ thin films and (110) textured polycrystalline ${FeF}_{2}$ thin films. A correlation between the anisotropies of the AF and F thin films with exchange bias was identified. Specifically, when exchange coupling across the F-AF interface introduces an additional anisotropy axis in the F thin film—one perpendicular to the cooling field, the magnetization reversal mechanism is affected (as observed with neutron scattering) and exchange bias is significantly enhanced.

Received 29 May 2001

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.65.134436

Authors & Affiliations

M. R. Fitzsimmons¹, C. Leighton^2,*, J. Nogués³, A. Hoffmann^1,†, Kai Liu^2,‡, C. F. Majkrzak⁴, J. A. Dura⁴, J. R. Groves¹, R. W. Springer¹, P. N. Arendt¹, V. Leiner⁵, H. Lauter⁵, and Ivan K. Schuller²

¹Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545
²Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0319
³Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA) and Department de Física, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain
⁴National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899
⁵Institute Laue Langevin, Grenoble, France

^*Present address: Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota.
^†Present address: Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory.
^‡Present address: Department of Physics, University of California, Davis.

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Vol. 65, Iss. 13 — 1 April 2002

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