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Physical Review B (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics) -- August 1, 2000 -- Volume 62, Issue 6 pp. 3933-3940

Coupling between two ferromagnetic layers separated by an antiferromagnetic layer

Haiwen Xi and Robert M. White

Data Storage Systems Center, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213

(Received 11 February 2000)

We have investigated the interlayer exchange coupling between two ferromagnetic (FM) layers mediated by an antiferromagnetic (AF) layer. We have extended Slonczewski's "proximity magnetism" idea in the trilayers by including an AF magnetocrystalline anisotropy and considering interfacial exchange coupling that is influenced by the interface roughness. Using a continuum model we obtain the rotation behavior of the AF moments during FM magnetization reversal. The results are discussed within the context of the "proximity magnetism" model. The FM magnetization behavior and the interlayer coupling are strongly dependent on the interfacial exchange coupling and the AF thickness, compared with the AF domain wall energy _W and the wall length _W, respectively. A study of the exchange anisotropy in FM/AF bilayers is also presented. ©2000 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v62/p3933
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.62.3933
PACS: 75.70.Cn, 75.30.Gw, 75.50.Ee, 75.60.Ch        Additional Information

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