Effect of interface roughness on exchange bias of an uncompensated interface: Monte Carlo simulation

Abstract

By means of Monte Carlo simulation, we investigate the effects of interface roughness and temperature on the exchange bias and coercivity in ferromagnetic (FM)/antiferromagnetic (AFM) bilayers. Both exchange bias and coercivity are strongly dependent on interface roughness. For a perfect uncompensated interface a domain wall is formed in the AFM system during FM reversal, which results in a very small exchange bias. However, a finite interface roughness leads to a finite value of the exchange bias due to the existence of pinned spins at the AFM surface adjacent to the mixed interface. It is observed that the exchange bias decreases with increasing temperature, consistent with the experimental results. It is also observed that a bump in coercivity occurs around the blocking temperature. © 2011 Journal of Magnetics.