Magnetic stability in exchange-spring and exchange-bias systems after multiple switching cycles

We have studied the magnetic stability in exchange bias and exchange spring systems prepared via epitaxial sputter deposition. The two interfacial exchange coupled systems, Fe/Cr(211) double superlattices consisting of a ferromagnetic and an antiferromagnetic Fe/Cr superlattice that are exchange coupled through a Cr spacer, and Sin-Co/Fe exchange-spring bilayer structures with ferromagnetically coupled hard Sin-Co layer and soft Fe layer, were epitaxially grown on suitably prepared Cr buffer layers to give rise to different microstructure and magnetic anisotropy. The magnetic stability was investigated using the magneto-optic Kerr effect during repeated reversal of the soft layer magnetization by field cycling up to 10{sup 7} times. For uniaxial Fe/Cr exchange biased double superlattices and exchange spring bilayers with uniaxial Sin-Co, small but rapid initial decay in the exchange bias field HE and in the remanent magnetization is observed. However, the exchange spring bilayers with biaxial and random in-plane anisotropy in the Sin-Co layer shows gradual decay in H{sub E} and without large reduction of the magnetization. The different decay behaviors are attributed to the different microstructure and spin configuration of the pinning layers