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Investigation of the Exchange Bias Effect by Quantitative Magnetic Force Microscopy
Author(s) -
Kappenberger P.,
Schmid I.,
Hug H. J.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
advanced engineering materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.938
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1527-2648
pISSN - 1438-1656
DOI - 10.1002/adem.200500088
Subject(s) - spins , antiferromagnetism , ferromagnetism , condensed matter physics , magnetic force microscope , exchange bias , materials science , magnetic field , spin (aerodynamics) , biasing , physics , magnetic anisotropy , magnetization , voltage , thermodynamics , quantum mechanics
Magnetic force microscopy (MFM) measurements were performed on an exchange‐biased CoO/(Co/Pt) multilayer sample at 8.0 K. Applying an external magnetic field of up to 7.0 T saturates the ferromagnetic layer and the remaining uncompensated antiferromagnetic spins at the antiferromagnet/ferromagnet interfaces are imaged with high lateral resolution. The coupling between the uncompensated spins and the spins in the ferromagnet are found to be antiferromagnetic. In addition, a method to quantitatively analyze the MFM data is presented which allows the determination of the uncompensated spin density at the AF/FM interfaces. It was found that 7% of the spins at the interfaces are uncompensated and contribute to the exchange biasing.