铁磁/反铁磁双层膜中交换偏置及矫顽场的温度特性研究

讨论了铁磁-反铁磁双层膜中交换偏置和矫顽场随温度变化的关系。在本模型中,温度的依赖性来源于系统态的热激发以及相关磁学参量的温度依赖性。数值结果显示:低温下,交换偏置和矫顽场随温度的升高而减少,但是随着界面的交换耦合的增强或铁磁层各向异性的减少,其交换偏置变得平坦。随着温度的升高,交换偏置减少直至零;而矫顽场却达到峰值后再减为零。这些结果与实验结果定性一致。根据数值计算结果,可以预见软的铁磁层耦合上硬的反铁磁层,在恰当的交换耦合强度下,可构建具有大的交换偏置、小矫顽场;并在某温度区几乎不随温度变化的磁存贮器件.     

铁磁/反铁磁双层膜系统中交换各向异性及其厚度依赖性

研究铁磁/反铁磁双层膜系统中交换偏置场和矫顽场的冷却磁场依赖性.结果表明,随着冷却磁场的增加,交换偏置场由负值向正值转变.在转变点附近,矫顽场有-个特别的增强,并达到最大值.结果同相关实验-致.研究铁磁层和反铁磁层厚度对交换偏置场和矫顽场的影响.发现,正负交换偏置场和矫顽场随着铁磁层厚度的增大而减小,但随反铁磁层厚度的变化关系复杂.在正交换偏置场的情形,随反铁磁层厚度的增大,交换偏置场增强,矫顽场减弱;在负交换偏置场的情形,随反铁磁层厚度的增大,交换偏置场减弱,矫顽场增强.     

铁磁/反铁磁双层膜系统中的磁畴动力学行为

比较了铁磁单层膜与铁磁/反铁磁双层膜结构中的磁畴演化行为, 发现由于反铁磁层膜对铁磁层膜的耦合作用使得系统的磁畴壁厚度、 磁畴壁等效质量、磁畴壁移动速度等发生了改变, 系统的矫顽场增强, 并出现了交换偏置场. 文章具体研究了反铁磁层耦合作用下其磁畴壁厚度、 等效质量以及磁畴壁移动速度等与反铁磁层的净磁化、 磁各向异性、界面耦合强度以及温度等的关系; 并研究了其对铁磁/反铁磁双层膜中的交换偏置场、矫顽场的影响. 进而 从磁畴结构的形成及其演化上揭示了铁磁/反铁磁双 层膜中出现交换偏置以及矫顽场增加的物理机制.     

非磁性掺杂下的铁磁/反铁磁系统中的交换偏置和矫顽场

采用Monte Carlo方法,分别讨论了在铁磁/反铁磁双层膜和铁磁/反铁磁单层混合膜中,掺入非磁性物质后,掺杂浓度对交换偏置以及矫顽场的影响.计算结果表明:随着掺杂浓度的增大,双层膜和单层膜交换偏置都有先增大后减小的现象,而其矫顽场则先减小后增大.在相同掺杂浓度下,对随机掺杂和规则掺杂两种不同掺杂方式的结果比较发现:铁磁/反铁磁双层膜中,规则掺杂下产生的交换偏置和矫顽场都得到了增强;对于单层混合膜,随机掺杂下的交换偏置更强,规则掺杂下的矫顽场更大.研究发现对于双层膜规则掺杂可明显地导致其磁滞回线的不对称性,说明铁磁/反铁磁系统中磁滞回线的不对称性与界面自旋微结构密切相关.     

铁磁/反铁磁/铁磁三层膜系统中反铁磁自旋结构及其交换各向异性

研究铁磁/反铁磁/铁磁三层膜中界面存在二次以及双二次交换耦合下反铁磁磁矩转动及其交换各向异性.结果表明,其反铁磁膜中的磁矩转动存在可逆"恢复行为"、不可逆"连续倒转行为"以及不可逆"中断倒转行为"三种情形,三种情形的出现强烈地依赖于两界面处的线性耦合和双二次耦合.钉扎界面的交换耦合与旋转界面的交换耦合相互竞争,当钉扎界面耦合占主导时,反铁磁磁矩发生可逆"恢复行为",系统出现交换偏置.在旋转界面耦合占主导情形下,其线性耦合与双二次耦合也相互竞争,分别导致反铁磁磁矩发生不可逆"连续倒转行为"和不可逆"中断倒转行为",系统都不出现交换偏置,但矫顽场都得以增强.相关结论为实验上观测的磁滞能耗以及界面垂直耦合提供了可能的解释.     

热效应在电流驱动反铁磁/铁磁交换偏置场翻转中的显著作用

电流驱动的面内交换偏置场翻转具有无需外磁场辅助、抗磁场干扰以及强磁各向异性等优势,受到广泛关注.然而,在纳米级厚度薄膜系统中,反铁磁/铁磁异质结的阻塞温度较低,同时电流脉冲会产生大量的焦耳热,理论上电流热效应对于交换偏置场翻转有着显著作用,但是其作用机制缺乏相关研究和验证.我们制备了一系列反铁磁IrMn厚度不同的Pt/IrMn/Py异质结,系统性地研究了热效应在电流翻转交换偏置场中的作用机制.结果表明,在毫秒级电流脉冲下,焦耳热能够使得器件升温至阻塞温度以上,解除反铁磁/铁磁界面的交换耦合,同时电流产生的奥斯特场和自旋轨道矩能够翻转铁磁磁矩,在降温过程中完成交换偏置场的翻转.并且,在翻转过程中,反铁磁/铁磁异质结的各向异性磁阻曲线呈现与温度相关的两步磁化翻转现象,分析表明该现象起源于交换偏置耦合与铁磁直接交换作用之间的竞争关系.本文的研究结果厘清了热效应在电流驱动交换偏置场翻转过程中的重要作用,有助于推动基于电控交换偏置场的自旋电子器件发展.     

外应力场下铁磁/反铁磁双层膜系统中的交换偏置

采用自由能极小的方法研究了铁磁/反铁磁双层膜系统在外应力场下的交换各向异性.本模型中铁磁层具有单轴磁晶各向异性和立方磁晶各向异性，而反铁磁层仅具有单轴磁晶各向异性，但其厚度趋于半无穷.理论上解析地给出了系统的等效交换偏置和钉扎角(它显示了反铁磁层对铁磁层磁化的钉扎作用)与外应力场之间的关系.数值计算表明：系统的等效交换偏置与外磁场的方向有关，而与其大小无关；然而外应力场的大小和方向均对系统的等效交换偏置有影响，其根源在于外应力场的大小和方向都影响着钉扎角. 关键词： 铁磁/反铁磁双层膜 交换偏置 钉扎角 应力场     

具有垂直各向异性(Pt/Co)n/FeMn多层膜的交换偏置

采用磁控溅射方法制备了以Pt为缓冲层和保护层的具有垂直各向异性(Pt/Co)_n/ FeMn多层膜.研究结果表明，多层膜的垂直交换偏置场H_ex和反铁磁层厚度的关 系与其具有平面各向异性的交换偏置场随反铁磁层厚度变化趋势相近.随着铁磁层调制周期 数的增加，垂直交换偏置场H_ex相应减小，并且与铁磁层的调制周期数近似成反 比关系.(Pt/Co)₃/FeMn的垂直交换偏置场H_ex已经达到22.3kA/m.为 关键词： 交换偏置 垂直各向异性 多层膜     

NiFe/FeMn双层膜的交换耦合

采用平面霍尔效应测量方法，对NiFe/FeMn双层膜的交换耦合进行了研究. 结果表明，在NiFe/FeMn体系中不存在spin-flop模型给出的单轴各向异性场. 而导致交换耦合场可逆与不可逆测量结果之间较大差异的原因是反铁磁颗粒的不稳定性或铁磁层的分畴现象. 关键词： 反铁磁/铁磁双层膜 交换偏置场 可逆与不可逆测量     

张应力对铁磁/反铁磁体系交换偏置的影响

 采用能量极小原理及Stoner-Wohlfarth模型,研究了张应力对铁磁/反铁磁双层薄膜交换偏置的影响。在不施加外磁场时,根据体系能量与铁磁层磁化强度方向之间的关系,得到了内禀易轴与内禀难轴的位置。交换各向异性与单轴各向异性之间的竞争使体系存在单稳态与双稳态两种不同的状态,直接决定了交换偏置的角度依赖关系。分析磁化过程发现,外磁场在沿内禀易轴及内禀难轴方向施加时,磁滞回线的一支转换场发生突变,另一支转换场保持不变,最终导致交换偏置场和矫顽场出现阶跃行为。在阶跃点处,体系具有较大的交换偏置场和矫顽场。数值计算表明：张应力的大小与方向对交换偏置均有很大的影响,均可以使体系在单稳态与双稳态之间相互转变并导致角度依赖关系发生显著变化。研究表明,应力可作为一种可行的方法来控制和调节铁磁/反铁磁体系的交换偏置。     

Temperature dependence of exchange bias and coercivity in ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic bilayers

A model for the temperature dependence of exchange bias and coercivity in epitaxial ferromagnetic (FM)/ antiferromagnetic (AFM) bilayers is developed. In this model, the interface coupling includes two contributions, the direct coupling and the spin-flop coupling. The temperature dependence arises from the thermal disturbance to the system, involved in the thermal fluctuations of magnetization of AFM grains and the temperature modulation of the relevant magnetic parameters. In addition, the randomness of original orientations of easy axes of AFM grains after field cooling is taken into account. A self-consistent calculation scheme is proposed and numerical treatment is carried out. The results show that the temperature dependence of exchange bias and coercivity is closely related to the sizes of AFM grains and the interface exchange coupling constants. Especially, the exchange bias will have a peak and the blocking temperature will increase if the spin-flop coupling plays a role. On the other hand, the original orientation distribution of easy axes of AFM grains will affect exchange bias and coercivity prominently. The prediction has been well supported by experiments.Received: 12 May 2004, Published online: 31 August 2004PACS: 75.30.Et Exchange and superexchange interactions - 75.50.Ee Antiferromagnetics - 75.30.Gw Magnetic anisotropy     

Theoretical investigation of exchange bias

The exchange bias of bilayer magnetic films consisting of ferromagnetic (FM) and antiferromagnetic (AFM) layers in an uncompensated case is studied by use of the many-body Green's function method of quantum statistical theory. The effects of the layer thickness and temperature and the interfacial coupling strength on the exchange bias H_E are investigated. The dependence of the exchange bias H_E on the FM layer thickness and temperature is qualitatively in agreement with experimental results. When temperature varies, both the coercivity H_C and H_E decrease with the temperature increasing. For each FM thickness, there exists a least AFM thickness in which the exchange bias occurs, which is called pinning thickness.     

Temperature Dependence of Exchange Bias and Coercivity in Ferromagnetic Layer Coupled with Polycrystalline Antiferromagnetic Layer

The temperature dependence of exchange bias and coercivity in a ferromagnetic layer coupled with an antiferromagnetic layer is discussed. In this model, the temperature dependence comes from the thermal instability of the system states and the temperature modulated relative magnetic parameters. Morever, the thermal fluctuation of orientations of easy axes of antiferromagnetic grains at preparing has been considered. From the present model, the experimental results can be illustrated qualitatively for available magnetic parameters. Based on our discussion, we can conclude that soft ferromagnetic layer coupled by hard antiferromagnetic layer may be very applicable to design magnetic devices. In special exchange coupling, we can get high exchange bias and low coercivity almost independent of temperature for proper temperature ranges.     

A polycrystalline model for magnetic exchange bias

This work introduces a realistic model for the magnetic behavior of polycrystalline ferromagnet/antiferromagnet (FM/AF) systems with granular interfaces. It considers that, for strong enough interface exchange coupling, the AF layer breaks the adjacent FM into small-sized domains and that at the interface there exist grains with uncompensated spins interacting with the FM magnetizations; the classification of these grains as unstable (rotatable, responsible for a coercivity enhancement) or stable (adding to the bias) depends on both the anisotropy and the magnetic coupling with the adjacent FM. The distinctive characteristic of the model is that the effective rotatable anisotropy changes when the external magnetic field is varied resulting in a non-zero hard-axis coercivity, a feature commonly observed, though little understood and often ignored. The applicability of this model was checked on a typical magnetron-sputtered IrMn/Co bilayer and excellent agreement between experiment and simulation was achieved.     

Interfacial roughness and temperature effects on exchange bias properties in coupled ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic bilayers

Monte Carlo simulations have been used to study the relationship between the exchange bias properties and the interface roughness in coupled ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic (FM/AFM) films of classical Heisenberg spins. It is shown that the variation of the exchange bias field versus the AFM anisotropy strongly depends on the FM/AFM interface. Unlike the flat interface, a non-monotonic dependence is observed for the roughest FM/AFM interface. This is explained by canted magnetic configurations at the FM/AFM interface, which appear after the first reversal due to the magnetic frustration. The temperature dependence of the exchange field is also dependent on the roughness. While the exchange field is roughly constant for the flat interface, a decrease is observed for the roughest interface as the temperature increases. This has been interpreted as a significant decrease of the effective coupling between the FM and the AFM due to the disordering of the moments at the FM/AFM interface because of the combination of magnetic frustration and temperature activation.     

Exchange coupling mechanism for magnetization reversal and thermal stability of Co nanoparticles embedded in a CoO matrix

A model providing a semi-quantitative account of the magnetic behavior of Co nanoparticles embedded in a CoO matrix is presented. The results confirm that exchange coupling at the interface between ferromagnetic (FM) and antiferromagnetic (AFM) nanostructures could provide an extra source of magnetic anisotropy, leading to thermal stability of the FM nanoparticles. It is shown that perpendicular coupling between the AFM and FM moments may result in large coercivities. The energy barrier, which works against reversal is due to the AFM susceptibility anisotropy. The experimentally observed exchange bias is tentatively ascribed to pre-existing intrinsic canting of the AFM moments at the interface.