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Journal of Applied Physics -- April 15, 1996 -- Volume 79, Issue 8, pp. 6295-6297

Spin orientation in an exchange coupled Fe/Cr/Fe trilayer determined by polarized neutron reflection

J. A. C. Bland, H. T. Leung, and S. J. Blundell

Cavendish Laboratory, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OHE, United Kingdom

V. S. Speriosu, S. Metin, and B. A. Gurney

IBM Research Division, Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road, San Jose, California 95120

J. Penfold

Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory, Chilton 0X11 0QX, United Kingdom

We have used polarized neutron reflection to determine the layer-dependent spin orientations in an antiferromagnetically coupled 100 Å Cr/50 Å Fe/15 Å Cr/50 Å Fe/Si sandwich structure prepared by sputtering. At low field, the net Fe layer magnetic moments align in an asymmetric canted orientation with a near zero total magnetic moment for the sample. At high fields, a canted state, nearly symmetric with respect to the applied field direction is observed and the magnetization in each layer does not reach the bulk saturation value until the layers are ferromagnetically aligned. The behavior is discussed in the context of current theories of exchange coupling. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.

PII: S0021-8979(96)24908-6
doi:10.1063/1.362041
PACS: 75.25.+z, 75.70.Cn        Additional Information

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