Thermal dependence of magnetic springs location in a DyFe2/YFe2 superlattice

Element selective x-ray magnetic circular dichroism measurements have been performed to unravel the complex magnetization reversal process occurring in antiferromagnetically exchange-coupled Laves phase superlattices. The separate investigation of each magnetic compound in a [DyFe2 (50 Angstrom)/YFe2 (200 Angstrom)] superlattice has enlightened a drastic thermal variation towards an unexpected high-temperature regime, where the magnetization in the hard layers first reverses in positive field, whereas the magnetization in the soft ones remains stuck along the field direction. This transfer of the interface magnetic twists towards the hard layers permits us to explain the thermal evolution of the coercive field. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.