Model for exchange bias in polycrystalline ferromagnet-antiferromagnet bilayers

This paper describes a model for polycrystalline ferromagnet-antiferromagnet bilayers. Independent antiferromagnetic grains are coupled to a ferromagnetic film both by direct coupling to the net moments at the interfaces of the grains and by spin-flop coupling. Rotation of the ferromagnetic magnetization applies a torque to the antiferromagnetic spins at the interface of each grain which winds up partial domain walls in the antiferromagnet. The model explains both the unidirectional anisotropy that gives rise to the well-known shifted hysteresis loops, and the hysteretic effects observed in rotational torque and ferromagnetic resonance experiments. The unidirectional anisotropy comes from grains in which the antiferromagnetic order is stable as the magnetization is rotated. The hysteretic effects come from grains in which the antiferromagnetic order irreversibly switches as the domain wall is wound up past a postulated critical angle. For all of the models considered here, spin-flop coupling does not contribute to the unidirectional anisotropy. [S0163-1829(99)01305-3].