Unidirectional Magnetization Relaxation in Exchange-Biased Films

The magnetization relaxation of thin ferromagnetic Ni
₈₁
Fe
₁₉
films in close proximity and in direct contact with antiferromagnetic FeMn films was investigated using broadband ferromagnetic resonance. For unbiased films, a contribution to the effective-damping parameter
α
_eff
inversely proportional to the ferromagnetic film thickness is found, consistent with the presence of spin pumping. For biased films, we find a unidirectional contribution to the effective-damping parameter, which does not scale with the inverse film thickness. The unidirectional character of the magnetization relaxation is described in terms of two-magnon scattering.