Abstract
We investigated magnetic remanence states of epitaxially grown, exchange-biased MnPd/Fe bilayers by electron holography emphasizing the crystallographic orientations of the layers. Thin-foil transmission electron microscopy (TEM) specimens were carefully prepared along both hard and easy axes of the Fe layer. The ex situ magnetization-reversal process was carried out using the TEM specimens, and magnetic flux densities of the ultra-thin Fe layers were evaluated at different remanence states. We show that a spin configuration in the TEM specimens is determined by the competition between an exchange coupling at the MnPd/Fe bilayer interface, shape anisotropy of TEM specimens and intrinsic magnetocrystalline anisotropy of Fe.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 235-242 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Journal of Electron Microscopy |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 2011 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported by the Global COE Program ‘Materials Integration (International Center of Education and Research), Tohoku University’, MEXT, Japan, and the work at the University of Washington was supported by the US Department of Energy, Basic Energy Sciences, under contract #ER45987.
Keywords
- TEM
- demagnetizing effects
- electron holography
- exchange bias
- magnetic flux density
- shape anisotropy