Department of Physics and Astronomy: Publications and Other Research
Document Type
Article
Date of this Version
2015
Citation
JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS 118, 063902 (2015)
Abstract
Magnetization reversal of antiferromagnetically coupled (AFC) soft and hard (Co/Pd) multilayers was studied as a function of temperature. While the hard [Co(0.3 nm)/Pd(0.8 nm)]x10 was kept unchanged, the softness of the [Co(t)/Pd(0.8 nm)]x3 was controlled by varying the thickness t of the Co sublayer. Clear two-step hysteresis loops were observed for all the investigated multilayers with t ranging between 0.4 and 1 nm. The spin reorientation of the soft layer magnetization from in-plane direction to out-of-plane direction was investigated from 50 to 300 K. The antiferromagnetic field HAFC measured from the shift of the minor hysteresis loop reveals a good agreement to the quantum-well model. From the out-of-plane hysteresis loop of the uncoupled soft layer, its magnetization shows an in-plane orientation for t>0.6 nm. The strong HAFC helps to induce an out-of plane orientation of the soft layer with a linear decrease of its coercivity with temperature. These investigated structures show the possibility to reduce the unwanted stray field and improving the out-of-plane anisotropy even for relatively thicker soft layer.
Comments
Copyright 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.