Enhanced Blocking Temperature and Isothermal Control of Hysteresis Loop Shifts in Co/NiO/[Co/Pt] Heterostructures with Orthogonal Easy Axes

Authors

A. Baruth, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Shireen Adenwalla, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

2008

Comments

Published in PHYSICAL REVIEW B 78, 174407 (2008). Copyright ©2008 The American Physical Society. Used by permission.

Abstract

Heterostructures of Co 4 nm/NiO 1.1 nm/[Co 0.4 nm/Pt 0.6 nm] with mutually orthogonal easy axes allow for isothermal tuning of the hysteresis loop shifts along the applied field axis at room temperature, as well as displaying a greatly enhanced blocking temperature. The loop shifts can be varied up to 35 Oe through the application of moderate dc magnetic fields of 3 kOe. The presence of the [Co/Pt] multilayer with perpendicular anisotropy is responsible for a significant enhancement of the blocking temperature. For this thickness of NiO, the blocking temperature is expected to be well below 50 K, in contrast to the observed blocking temperature of 225 K. These effects may be tailored by a judicious choice of materials. The dependence of the loop shift on applied field will vary depending on the coercivity and remanance of the ferromagnetic layers. The enhancement of the blocking temperature is highly dependent on the in-plane and out-of-plane anisotropy constants of the intervening antiferromagnet. Both effects are directly relevant to a variety of modern spintronic applications.