Past exam of the MPhil in micro- and nanotechnology enterprise course of the University of Cambridge / 2021 / Paper 2 / Section A(ii) / 16 / ii / Solution

Heat the bilayer into a window $T_N<T<T_c$, apply an in-plane magnetic field sufficient to align the ferromagnet, and cool through the antiferromagnet's ordering/blocking range while retaining the field. The ferromagnet supplies a preferred interfacial spin direction as the antiferromagnet orders. Sufficient antiferromagnetic anisotropy then pins part of the interfacial spin configuration, producing unidirectional magnetic anisotropy rather than merely uniaxial magnetic anisotropy in the ferromagnet.

Measure a full major hysteresis loop after removing the cooling field, and compare with the isolated ferromagnet, a zero-field-cooled bilayer and the result of reversing the cooling-field direction. Those controls separate a true loop-centre shift from a changed coercive width, minor-loop artefacts or trapped applied field. The effect requires appropriate interfacial exchange and stable pinning; an ideally compensated or freely rotating interface need not produce a large bias. Exchange anisotropy in coupled ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic material was demonstrated in the classic experiment below.^[ref]