Abstract
The consequences of keV light-ion bombardment of polycrystalline exchange bias layer systems on individual magnetic anisotropies composing the effective unidirectional magnetic anisotropy are investigated by vectorial magneto-optic Kerr effect measurements. Preferential reduction of rotatable magnetic anisotropy as compared to the other magnetic anisotropies is observable, disproving the intuitive assumption of an equable weakening of all magnetic anisotropies due to the bombardment. It is concluded that light-ion bombardment has a stronger impact on the magnetic characteristics of smaller grains in a polycrystalline antiferromagnet as compared to those of larger ones.
Highlights
Light-ion bombardment has proven to be a versatile and powerful technique to tailor magnetic characteristics of magnetic thin film systems [1,2,3,4,5] after their deposition
Small deviations from the mirror symmetry with respect to the magnetic easy axis can be attributed to a misalignment ( 2 ) between ferromagnetic uniaxial magnetic anisotropy (FUMA) and the unidirectional magnetic anisotropy [39, 40]
We have determined the influence of keV-He ion bombardment on individual magnetic anisotropies of exchange bias systems quantitatively by fitting a coherent rotation model to experimental data obtained by vectorial magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE) magnetometry
Summary
Nicolas David Müglich, Maximilian Merkel , Alexander Gaul, Markus Meyl, Gerhard Götz, Günter Reiss, Timo Kuschel and Arno Ehresmann.
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