Exchange bias is a horizontal shift of the hysteresis loop observed for a ferromagnetic layer in contact with an antiferromagnetic layer. Since exchange bias is related to the spin structure of the antiferromagnet, for its fundamental understanding a detailed knowledge of the physics of the antiferromagnetic layer is inevitable. A model is investigated where domains are formed in the volume of the AFM stabilized by dilution. These domains become frozen during the initial cooling procedure carrying a remanent net magnetization which causes and controls exchange bias. Varying the anisotropy of the antiferromagnet we find a nontrivial dependence of the exchange bias on the anisotropy of the antiferromagnet.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0203297,
title = {Modeling exchange bias microscopically},
author = {U. Nowak and A. Misra and K. D. Usadel},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0203297},
year = {2009}
}