Effect of interfacial coupling on the magnetic ordering in ferro-antiferromagnetic bilayers

TL;DR

This study uses Monte Carlo simulations to explore how interfacial coupling affects magnetic ordering in ferro-antiferromagnetic bilayers, revealing different spin alignments depending on interface roughness and temperature.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the influence of interface roughness and coupling on magnetic order in FM/AFM bilayers through detailed simulation analysis.

Findings

AFM orders above Ne9el temperature with collinear spin alignment

Rough interfaces exhibit a transition from collinear to perpendicular alignment at lower temperatures

Interface roughness significantly affects magnetic spin configurations

Abstract

Monte Carlo simulations have been used to study magnetic ordering in coupled anisotropic ferro/antiferromagnetic (FM/AFM) films of classical Heisenberg spins. We consider films with flat interfaces that are fully uncompensated as well as rough interfaces that are compensated on average. For both types of interfaces above the ``N\'eel temperature'' we observed order in the AFM with the AFM spins aligning collinearly with the FM moments. In the case of rough interfaces there is a transition from collinear to perpendicular alignment of the FM and AFM spins at a lower temperature.