Magnetisation reversal in spin-valve structures

Magnetisation reversal has been studied in detail for spin-valve structures based on the Ta/NiFeCo/Cu/NiFeCo/FeMn system. The objective of the work is to examine the role of inter and intra-layer coupling in the systems and to this end the thickness of the pinned layer was varied so as to examine the effects and the extent of the exchange coupling from the FeMn layer. We find that as the thickness of the pinned layer is decreased the effect of the exchange coupling increases in that the loop of the pinned layer is shifted to higher fields and that the switching region of the loop broadens substantially and the reversal becomes bimodal.