Details of the Magnetization Reversal in Patterned Exchange-Biased and Unbiased Thin Films

New features of the magnetization reversal of a patterned bilayer in the form of a square mesh consisting of 16 μm wide intersecting stripes of Ni
₇₉
Fe
₂₁
(30 nm) exchange-coupled with IrMn (10 nm) on top were revealed via use of the advanced magneto-optical indicator film technique. A peculiar asymmetry of the remagnetization behavior was observed for the forward and backward branches of the hysteresis loop for fields parallel to the sample's unidirectional anisotropy. Herein, we compare the magnetization reversal processes in the biased and nonbiased patterned ferromagnetic nano-layers.