Magnetic ground state and giant spontaneous exchange bias in Ni46Mn43In11 alloy

Abstract

We report non-equilibrium dynamics and giant spontaneous exchange bias obtained in zero field cooled mode for Ni46Mn43In11 alloy. The dc magnetic measurements indicate a super spin glass type magnetic ground state in the system. This SSG state is formed when superparamagnetic domains are collectively frozen inside strong antiferromagnetic matrix at low temperature. The ZFCEB arises due to the development of strong superferromagnetic unidirectional anisotropy at the interface of SSG and AFM during the initial magnetization processes. The temperature variation of field cooled exchange bias and ZFCEB is almost similar whilst their field dependency is different. Possible reasons for observed behaviors are comprehensively discussed in this article.