Regensburg 2013 – scientific programme

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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus

MA 16: Poster I

MA 16.39: Poster

Tuesday, March 12, 2013, 10:30–13:30, Poster D

Preparation of epitaxial FeMn/Co-exchange-bias systems on MgO single crystals — •Mathias Schmidt, Patrick Audehm, Eberhard Goering, and Gisela Schütz — Max-Planck-Institut für Intelligente Systeme, Heisenbergstr. 3, 70569 Stuttgart

Exchange bias systems are very important for several applications in the area of magnetic storage media. Inside that class of materials, FeMn/Co-thin films are one of the most prominent examples. For research issues, they are usually produced on Cu single crystals fitting almost perfectly to the lattice constant of FeMn, leading to epitaxial growth. For receiving a deeper understanding of the exchange-bias, which is still under strong debate, we used different methods as SQUID, AFM and MOKE but also XAS, XMCD and XRMR (X-Ray Magnetic Reflectometry). Because of the weak deformation resistance of Cu substrates, especially the latter method is nearly impossible to access, which is in principle necessary to receive a detailed magnetic and physical depth profile of the sample. Molecular beam epitaxy was used to produce FeMn/Co-systems on (100) MgO substrates. With the help of different buffer layers, we could achieve epitaxial properties through all sample layers, creating well defined interfaces. We will present the preparation process and the results of multiple characterization methods revealing new insights into the physical and magnetic properties of these exchange-bias systems.