Abstract
Spin-flop transition (SFT) consists in a jump-like reversal of antiferromagnetic (AF) lattice into a noncollinear state when the magnetic field increases above the critical value. Potentially the SFT can be utilized in many applications of a rapidly developing AF spintronics. However, the difficulty of using them in conventional antiferromagnets lies in (a) too large switching magnetic fields (b) the need for presence of a magnetic anisotropy, and (c) requirement to apply magnetic field along the correspondent anisotropy axis. In this work we propose to use artificial ferrimagnets (FEMs) in which the SFT occurs without anisotropy and the transition field can be lowered by adjusting exchange coupling in the structure. This is proved by experiment on artificial Fe-Gd FEMs where usage of Pd spacers allowed us to suppress the transition field by two orders of magnitude.
Highlights
Antiferromagnetic (AF) spintronic is nowadays a rapidly developing area [1,2,3,4,5]
Spin-flop transition (SFT) consists in a jump-like reversal of antiferromagnetic (AF) lattice into a noncollinear state when the magnetic field increases above the critical value
In this work we propose to use artificial ferrimagnets (FEMs) in which the SFT occurs without anisotropy and the transition field can be lowered by adjusting exchange coupling in the structure
Summary
Antiferromagnetic (AF) spintronic is nowadays a rapidly developing area [1,2,3,4,5]. In addition to nonvolatility of conventional ferromagnetic spintronics the AF devices can offer immunity to external magnetic disturbances, absence of crosstalks between small-area devices and much faster dynamics (THz vs MHz). In the FEMs one does not require presence of anisotropy and the SFT takes place at HSP = λ|m1 − m2| [21], where m1,2 are the magnetic moment of first and second sublattices and λ is the exchange parameter. Artificial FEMs based on magnetic heterostructures give a possibility to tune the SFT field by varying parameters of ferromagnetic layers and by introducing nonmagnetic spacers. The SFT was found in Gd/Fe systems at typical value HSP ∼ 3 kOe [28], which is much smaller than that for bulk FEMs but still quite high for applications. Magnetic field of HSP=1.5 kOe we detected a 20-fold increase of SF scattering which is the direct evidence for the presence of SFT in our system. Ability of Pd and Gd to form an alloy with controllable suppression of exchange energy paves the way for tuning of SFT by varying thickness of Pd spacer, which we aim to study in this work
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