DIRECT OBSERVATION OF OSCILLATORY INTERLAYER EXCHANGE COUPLING IN SPUTTERED WEDGES USING CIRCULARLY-POLARIZED X-RAYS

Authors
WU Y PARKIN SSP STOHR J SAMANT MG HERMSMEIER BD KORANDA S DUNHAM D TONNER BP
Citation
Y. Wu et al., DIRECT OBSERVATION OF OSCILLATORY INTERLAYER EXCHANGE COUPLING IN SPUTTERED WEDGES USING CIRCULARLY-POLARIZED X-RAYS, Applied physics letters, 63(2), 1993, pp. 263-265
Citations number
21
Categorie Soggetti
Physics, Applied
Journal title
Applied physics letters → ACNP
ISSN journal
00036951
Volume
63
Issue
2
Year of publication
1993
Pages
263 - 265
Database
ISI
SICI code
0003-6951(1993)63:2<263:DOOOIE>2.0.ZU;2-D
Abstract
Oscillations in the magnetic exchange coupling between two ferromagnet ic layers separated by Ru are directly observed in magnetron sputtered wedged sandwiches using x-ray magnetic circular dichroism. The magnet ization of the lower magnetic layer in the sandwich is saturated in ze ro field by exchange biasing it to an antiferromagnetic layer of Fe60M n40. The oscillatory exchange coupling through the Ru wedge causes the direction of the magnetic moment of the upper magnetic layer to rotat e back and forth along the wedge and this is directly observed from va riations in the intensity of absorption of circularly polarized x rays . Five oscillations in absorption intensity with a period correspondin g to congruent-to 11 angstrom were observed in a Ni81Fe19/Ru/Ni70Co30 wedge.