Lateral length scales in exchange bias

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the size of magnetic domains in ferromagnet/antiferromagnet bilayers influences exchange bias, revealing local effects and tunable hysteresis behaviors through experimental analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed study of lateral length scales in exchange bias, highlighting the impact of domain size mismatch on magnetic properties.

Findings

Local exchange bias occurs when antiferromagnetic domains are larger or comparable to ferromagnetic domains.

Unusual, tunable magnetic hysteresis curves are observed due to domain size effects.

Spatially resolved measurements reveal non-averaging exchange bias phenomena.

Abstract

When a ferromagnet is in proximity with an antiferromagnet, lateral length scales such as the respective magnetic domain sizes drastically affect the exchange bias. Bilayers of FeF2 and either Ni, Co or Fe are studied using SQUID and spatially resolved MOKE. When the antiferromagnetic domains are larger than or comparable to the ferromagnetic domains, a local, non-averaging exchange bias is observed. This gives rise to unusual and tunable magnetic hysteresis curves.