Exploiting exchange bias length scales to fully tailor double-shifted hysteresis loops

The possibility of engineering fully adjustable double-shifted hysteresis loops in a ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic system, with composition [Pt/Co]₃-IrMn, exhibiting a perpendicular-to-plane magnetic anisotropy is demonstrated. Both the magnetization amplitude and the loop shift of one of the two sub-loops can be independently tailored, allowing the whole loop to be tuned from a symmetric double-shifted to a single-shifted hysteresis loop. A symmetric double-shifted loop is obtained after degaussing and zero-field cooling the sample from above the blocking temperature of the system.