MAGNETIZATION REVERSAL IN SPIN-VALVE STRUCTURES

Magnetisation reversal has been studied in detail for spin-valve struc tures based on the Ta/NiFeCo/Cu /NiPeCo/FeMn system. The objective of the work is to examine the role of inter and intra-layer coupling in t he systems and to this end the thickness of the pinned layer was varie d so as to examine the effects and the extent of the exchange coupling from the FeMn layer. We find that as the thickness of the pinned laye r is decreased the effect of the exchange coupling increases in that t he loop of the pinned layer is shifted to higher fields and that the s witching region of the loop broadens substantially and the reversal be comes bimodal.