Applied Physics Letters -- December 27, 1999 -- Volume 75, Issue 26 pp. 4174-4176 

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Magnetic configurations in exchange-biased double superlattices

       S. G. E. te Velthuis, G. P. Felcher, J. S. Jiang, A. Inomata, C. S. Nelson, A. Berger, and S. D. Bader 
       Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 

(Received 17 August 1999; accepted 2 November 1999) 

The layer-by-layer magnetization of a "double-superlattice" Fe/Cr(211) exchange-bias junction was determined by polarized neutron reflectometry. An n-layered [Fe/Cr]n antiferromagnetic (AF) superlattice is coupled with
an m-layered [Fe/Cr]m ferromagnetic (F) superlattice, to provide a controlled exchange bias. In low magnetic fields, the magnetizations of the two superlattices are collinear. The two magnetized states (along or opposite to
the bias field) differ only in the relative orientation of the F and adjacent AF layer. At higher fields, the AF moments flop to the direction perpendicular to the applied field. The structure, thus determined, explains the magnitude
of the bias field. ©1999 American Institute of Physics. 

PII: S0003-6951(99)03052-1 
DOI: 10.1063/1.125573 
PACS: 75.70.Cn, 75.25.+z, 75.30.Et, 75.60.Ej, 75.30.Gw, 75.50.Bb, 75.50.Ee