2005/04/30 by F. Radu, Florin Radu, Andreas Westphalen +5 · 2 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Magnetic Properties and Applications #Magnetic properties of thin films #Theoretical and Computational Physics #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0953-8984/18/3/l01
published as J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 18 (2006) L29-L36
arxiv created 2005/12/11 · openalex publication_date 2005/12/21 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
While the principal features of the exchange bias between a ferromagnet and an antiferromagnet are believed to be understood, a quantitative description is still lacking. We show that interface spin disorder is the main reason for the discrepancy of model calculations versus experimental results. Taking into account spin disorder at the interface between the ferromagnet and the antiferromagnet by modifying the well known Meiklejohn and Bean model, an almost perfect agreement can be reached. As an example this is demonstrated for the CoFe/IrMn exchange biased bilayer by analyzing the azimuthal dependence of magnetic hysteresis loops from MOKE measurements. Both, exchange bias and coercive fields for the complete 360^∘ angular range are reproduced by our model.