Title :
Spin spring behavior in exchange coupled soft and high-coercivity hard ferromagnets
Author :
Shull, R.D. ; Shapiro, A.J. ; Gornakov, V.S. ; Nikitenko, V.I. ; Jiang, J. Samuel ; Kaper, H. ; Leaf, G. ; Bader, S.D.
Author_Institution :
Nat. Inst. of Stand. & Technol., Gaithersburg, MD, USA
fDate :
7/1/2001 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
The magnetization reversal processes in an epitaxial Fe/Sm2 Co7 structure were investigated using the magneto-optical indicator film technique. The dependence of the magnitude and the orientation of the structure average magnetization have been studied on both cycling and rotating the external magnetic field. Magnetization reversal of the soft ferromagnet was found to proceed by the formation of exchange springs due to spin winding in both the thickness and perpendicular directions as adjacent subdomains with opposite chirality are created. Experimental data is compared with a theoretical estimation of the rotational hysteresis loop for a spin system containing a one-dimensional (single chirality) exchange spring
Keywords :
cobalt alloys; exchange interactions (electron); ferromagnetic materials; interface magnetism; iron; magnetic domains; magnetic epitaxial layers; magnetic hysteresis; magnetisation reversal; permanent magnets; samarium alloys; Faraday rotation; Fe-Sm2Co7; epitaxial structure; exchange coupled ferromagnets; exchange springs; high-coercivity hard ferromagnet; magnetic field cycling; magnetic field rotation; magnetization reversal processes; magneto-optical indicator film technique; one-dimensional spring; opposite chirality subdomains; permanent magnet; perpendicular direction; rotational hysteresis loop; soft ferromagnet; spin spring behavior; spin winding; thickness direction; Couplings; Iron; Magnetic domain walls; Magnetic films; Magnetization reversal; Magnetooptic effects; Saturation magnetization; Soft magnetic materials; Springs; Sputtering;
Journal_Title :
Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on
