Exchange coupling of Fe/NiO through nonmagnetic layer in NiO

The role of non-interfacial antiferromagnetic (AFM) layers is examined by propagating a probing layer through the AFM and measuring the resultant changes in H/sub EB/ using magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) magnetometry. Two different types of samples were grown using magnetron sputtering system: type-I samples consists of 20 /spl Aring/ Ru/20 /spl Aring/ Fe/x /spl Aring/ NiO/150 /spl Aring/ Ag, and type-II samples consists of 20 /spl Aring/ Ru/20 /spl Aring/ Fe/x /spl Aring/ NiO/2.5 /spl Aring/, 5.0 /spl Aring/ 7.5 /spl Aring/ MgO, Ag, Cu/500-x /spl Aring/ NiO/150 /spl Aring/ Ag, where x is from 0 /spl Aring/ to 210 /spl Aring/. H/sub EB/ for type-I samples is long-range coupling from the point of view of the AFM and is consistent with a generalized Meiklejohn-Bean approach. In type-II samples, MgO layer decouples more the thin interfacial NiO from bottom NiO than other nonmagnetic layer. The decoupling of Ag is smallest.