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Vector magnetometry of Fe/Cr/Fe trilayers with biquadratic coupling

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

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Type

Article

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Authors

Mansell, R 
Fernández-Pacheco, A 
Lee, JH 
Chin, SL 

Abstract

© 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd.The magnetic reversal of epitaxial Fe/Cr/Fe trilayer samples grown on GaAs is studied. In wedged samples both long and short period coupling oscillations associated with Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) coupling in Cr are seen in the easy axis saturation fields. By using vector vibrating sample magnetometry and both longitudinal and transverse magneto-optical Kerr effect magnetometry we are able to determine the exact reversal path of both the magnetic layers. Changes in the reversal behavior are seen with sub-monolayer changes of the thickness of the Cr interlayer. The two main reversal paths are described in terms of whether the reversal is dominated by bilinear RKKY coupling, which leads to an antiparallel state at remanence or by biquadratic coupling which leads to a 90 degree alignment of layers at remanence. The changing reversal behaviour is discussed with respect to the possibility of using such systems for multilayer memory applications and, in particular, the limits on the required accuracy of the sample growth.

Description

Keywords

vector magnetometry, multilayers, storage devices, RKKY coupling

Journal Title

Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0022-3727
1361-6463

Volume Title

50

Publisher

IOP Publishing
Sponsorship
European Research Council (247368)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/M008517/1)
Isaac Newton Trust (1119(v))
Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (680-50-1024)