Negative remanence in synthetic antiferromagnetically coupled FeCo/Ru/FeCo films

Author

Byeon, Soon Cheon ; Misra, Arkajyoti ; Visscher, Pieter B. ; Doyle, William D.

Author_Institution

MINT Center, Univ. of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA

Volume

40

Issue

4

fYear

2004

fDate

7/1/2004 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2359

Lastpage

2361

Abstract

Inverted hysteresis loops in a sputtered FeCo/Ru/FeCo bilayer have been investigated. A Stoner-Wohlfarth energy minimization calculation reproduced the negative remanence assuming a small misalignment of the easy axes of the ferromagnets. During the initial stage of the growth of the top layer, the external field fails to overcome the strong antiferromagnetic exchange coupling between the layers. The magnetizations, as a result, are no longer collinear and the easy axis of the top layer will vary with its thickness. The negative remanence disappeared following an annealing of the sample in a strong field confirming the theory.

Keywords

antiferromagnetic materials; exchange interactions (electron); ferromagnetic materials; remanence; FeCo-Ru-FeCo; Stoner-Wohlfarth energy minimization calculation; antiferromagnetic exchange coupling; easy axes misalignments; ferromagnets; hysteresis loops calculations; inverted hysteresis loops; magnetizations; negative remanence; sputtered bilayer; synthetic antiferromagnetically coupled films; Anisotropic magnetoresistance; Antiferromagnetic materials; Glass; Hysteresis; Magnetic anisotropy; Magnetic separation; Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy; Remanence; Saturation magnetization; Substrates; Calculation of hysteresis loops; misalignment of easy axis; negative remanence; perpendicular media; synthetic antiferromagnetic coupling;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TMAG.2004.832452

Filename

1325504