Chemical-order-induced magnetic exchange bias in epitaxial FePt3 films

Abstract

We show that magnetic exchange bias can be induced by means of chemical ordering. The effect was observed on epitaxial thin film layers of FePt3, a material which has the remarkable property that, depending on the degree of chemical order, a ferromagnetic and an antiferromagnetic magnetic state can coexist at the same temperature. We demonstrate that the observed exchange bias originates at the interfaces between these two different magnetic phases of FePt3. © 2008, American Physical Society