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Controlling the canted state in antiferromagnetically coupled magnetic bilayers close to the spin reorientation transition

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

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Authors

Ummelen, FC 
Fernández-Pacheco, A 
Swagten, HJM 

Abstract

Canted magnetization is obtained in ultrathin, antiferromagnetically coupled magnetic bilayers with thicknesses around the spin reorientation transition. The canting angle is controlled by both the magnetic layer thickness and interlayer coupling strength, which are tuned independently. Hysteresis loops are obtained, where magnetization components parallel and transverse to the applied field are measured, and analyzed by comparison to micromagnetic simulations. This enables the canting angle to be extracted and the behavior of the individual layers to be distinguished. Two types of canted systems are obtained with either single-layer reversal or complex, coupled two-layer reversal, under moderate external magnetic fields. Controlling the magnetization canting and reversal behavior of ultra-thin layers is relevant for the development of magnetoresistive random-access memory and spin-torque oscillator devices.

Description

Keywords

51 Physical Sciences, 5104 Condensed Matter Physics

Journal Title

Applied Physics Letters

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0003-6951
1077-3118

Volume Title

110

Publisher

AIP
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/M008517/1)
European Research Council (247368)
This research was funded by the FP7 ERC 3SPIN Advanced Grant and by a European Erasmus Mobility program. This work is part of the research programme of the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM), which is part of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). A. Fernández-Pacheco acknowledges support from an EPSRC Early Career Fellowship EP/M008517/1, and from the Winton Foundation.