Domain and domain wall observations in sputtered exchange-biased wedges

Author

Schäfer, Rudolf ; Hubert, Alex ; Parkin, S.S.P.

Author_Institution

Inst. fuer Werkstoffwiss., Erlangen-Nurnberg Univ., Germany

Volume

29

Issue

6

fYear

1993

fDate

11/1/1993 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2738

Lastpage

2740

Abstract

Sputtered exchange-coupled sandwich systems with FeMn biasing underlayer, NiFe and NiCo ferromagnetic layers, and wedge-shaped Ru interlayers are investigated by Kerr microscopy. Domain analysis confirms the basic oscillatory behavior between ferro- and antiferromagnetic exchange coupling as a function of the nonmagnetic interlayer thickness. High resolution observation reveals many 360° domain walls, especially in zones of weak coupling. These 360° walls act as nucleation sites in a strongly hysteretic magnetization process and may form a problem in sensor applications

Keywords

Kerr magneto-optical effect; cobalt alloys; exchange interactions (electron); ferromagnetic properties of substances; iron alloys; magnetic domain walls; magnetic domains; magnetic multilayers; manganese alloys; nickel alloys; ruthenium; sputtered coatings; FeMn biasing underlayer; Kerr microscopy; NiCo-Ru-NiFe-MnFe; NiFe-Ru-NiFe-MnFe; Ru interlayers; antiferromagnetic exchange coupling; domain analysis; domain wall observations; exchange-coupled sandwich systems; ferromagnetic exchange coupling; magnetic multilayers; nonmagnetic interlayer thickness; nucleation sites; sputtered exchange-biased wedges; strongly hysteretic magnetization process; Antiferromagnetic materials; Couplings; Hysteresis; Magnetic analysis; Magnetic domains; Magnetic multilayers; Magnetization processes; Microscopy; Saturation magnetization; Soft magnetic materials;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.280926

Filename

280926