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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus
MA 10: Poster I
MA 10.30: Poster
Tuesday, March 23, 2010, 10:45–13:45, Poster A
Relative orientation of the magnetic moments in the Fe/MnPd exchange bias system — •S. Brück1,3, S. Macke1, X. Ji2, Q. Zhan2, K. M. Krishnan2, and E. Goering1 — 1Max-Planck-Institut für Metallforschung, Stuttgart, Germany — 2Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, USA — 3Physikalisches Institut, Universität Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
Recent soft X-ray resonant magnetic reflectometry (XRMR) investigations of a Fe/MnPd exchange bias system have revealed a complex magnetic configuration at the ferromagnet (F)/antiferromagnet (AF) interface in the system[1]. The existence of a considerable amount of rotatable uncompensated magnetic moments in the antiferromagnet as well as the confinement of pinned uncompensated moments to the F|AF interface was shown. Precise knowledge of the location and relative orientations of all kinds of magnetic moments at the F|AF interface is a necessary prerequisite for the development of new models for the description of exchange bias. We show how by comparing the signs and magnitudes of the absorptive part of the index of refraction, it is possible to determine the relative coupling directions in the system. It is found that rotatable Mn and the ferromagnetic Fe couple antiparallel. The pinned Mn moments are oriented antiparallel to the neighboring rotatable Mn and parallel with respect to the Fe during the field cooling process.
[1] S. Brück, G. Schütz, E. Goering, X. Ji, and K. M. Krishnan, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 126402-4 (2008).