Dresden 2003 – scientific programme

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MA: Magnetismus

MA 8: Magnetische Kopplungsph
änomene / Exchange Bias

MA 8.7: Talk

Monday, March 24, 2003, 16:45–17:00, HSZ/405

Oscillatory magnetic interlayer coupling across single-crystalline FeMn layers — •L. I. Chelaru, W. Kuch, F. Offi, M. Kotsugi, and J. Kirschner — Max-Planck-Institut für Mikrostrukturphysik, Weinberg 2, 06120 Halle

The magnetic interlayer coupling in single-crystalline FeNi/FeMn/Co trilayers grown epitaxially on Cu(001) has been investigated using magneto-optical Kerr effect and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism photoelectron emission microscopy (XMCD-PEEM). For FeMn thicknesses below t_FeMn ≈ 8 ML, the magnetic coupling between the top FeNi layer and bottom Co layer is non-collinear. In this region FeMn is presumably paramagnetic at room temperature. An oscillatory magnetic interlayer coupling between the FeNi and Co layers as a function of t_FeMn with a period of 2 ML has been observed for FeMn thicknesses above 8 ML, when the FeMn layer is antiferromagnetically ordered. Element selective XMCD-PEEM magnetic domain images of the FeNi layer on top of a crossed double-wedge of FeMn and Co reveal in this region a ripple-like periodic modulation of the coupling phase as a function of Co bottom layer thickness with 1 ML period. This is interpreted as a frustration of antiferromagnetic order at the FeMn-Co interface which is influenced by the periodic modulation of the interface roughness caused by the layer-by-layer growth of the films.