Controllable two- and three-state magnetization switching in single-layer epitaxial Pd1−xFex films and an epitaxial Pd0.92Fe0.08/Ag/Pd0.96Fe0.04 heterostructure

Abstract

We have investigated the low-temperature magnetoresistive properties of a thin epitaxial Pd0.92Fe0.08 film at different directions of the current and the applied magnetic field. The obtained experimental results are well described within an assumption of a single-domain magnetic state of the film. In a wide range of the appled field directions, the magnetization reversal proceeds in two steps via the intermediate easy axis. An epitaxial heterostructure of two magnetically separated ferromagnetic layers, Pd0.92Fe0.08/Ag/Pd0.96Fe0.04, was synthesized and studied with dc magnetometry. Its magnetic configuration diagram has been constructed and the conditions have been determined for a controllable switching between stable parallel, orthogonal, and antiparallel arrangements of magnetic moments of the layers.

Keywords

• anisotropic magnetoresistance
• magnetization reversal
• pd–fe alloy
• thin epitaxial film