We observe strongly nonlinear spin dynamics in ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic multilayers, controlled by the number of bilayers in the system, layer thicknesses, and temperature, peaking in magnitude near the Néel point of the antiferromagnetic layers just above room temperature. Well above the Néel transition, the individual ferromagnetic layers are exchange decoupled and resonate independently. As the temperature is lowered toward the Néel point, the ferromagnetic proximity effect through the thin antiferromagnetic spacers transforms the system into a weakly coupled macrospin chain along the film normal, which exhibits pronounced standing spin-wave resonance modes, comparable in intensity to the uniform resonance in the ferromagnetic layers. These findings are supported by our micromagnetic simulations showing clear spin-wave profiles with precessional phase lag along the macrospin chain. Well below the Néel transition, the FeMn layers order strongly antiferromagnetically and exchange-pin the ferromagnetic layers to effectively make the multilayer one macrospin. The appearance and intensity of the high-frequency spin-wave modes can thus be conveniently controlled by thermal gating the multilayer. The nonlinearity in the microwave response of the demonstrated material can approach 100%, which is large compared to nonlinear materials used in, e.g., optics, with second-harmonic generation often at the single percentage level.

We present all-electrical operation of a FexCr1-x-based Curie switch at room temperature. More specifically, we study the current-induced thermally driven transition from ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic Magnetometry measurements at different temperatures show that the transition from the ferromagnetic to the antiferromagnetic coupling at zero field is observed at approximately 325 K. Analytical modeling confirms that the observed temperature-dependent transition from indirect ferromagnetic to indirect antiferromagnetic interlayer exchange coupling originates from the modification of the effective interlayer exchange constant through the ferromagnetic-to-paramagnetic transition in the Fe17.5Cr82.5 spacer with minor contributions from the thermally driven variations of the magnetization and magnetic anisotropy of the Fe layers. Room-temperature current-in-plane magnetotransport measurements on the patterned Fe/Cr/Fe17.5Cr82.5/Cr/Fe strips show the transition from the "low-resistance" parallel to the "highresistance" antiparallel remanent magnetization configuration, upon increased probing current density. Quantitative comparison of the switching fields, obtained by magnetometry and magnetotransport, confirms that the Joule heating is the main mechanism responsible for the observed current-induced resistive switching.

We investigate the interlayer coupling between two thin ferromagnetic (F) films mediated by an antiferromagnetic (AF) spacer in F∗/AF/F trilayers and show how it transitions between different regimes on changing the AF thickness. Employing layer-selective Kerr magnetometry and ferromagnetic-resonance techniques in a complementary manner enables us to distinguish between three functionally distinct regimes of such ferromagnetic interlayer coupling. The F layers are found to be individually and independently exchange-biased for thick FeMn spacers - the first regime of no interlayer F-F∗ coupling. F-F∗ coupling appears on decreasing the FeMn thickness below 9 nm. In this second regime found in structures with 6.0-9.0-nm-thick FeMn spacers, the interlayer coupling exists only in a finite temperature interval just below the effective Néel temperature of the spacer, which is due to magnon-mediated exchange through the thermally softened antiferromagnetic spacer, vanishing at lower temperatures. The third regime, with FeMn thinner than 4 nm, is characterized by a much stronger interlayer coupling in the entire temperature interval, which is attributed to a magnetic-proximity induced ferromagnetic exchange. These experimental results, spanning the key geometrical parameters and thermal regimes of the F∗/AF/F nanostructure, complemented by a comprehensive theoretical analysis, should broaden the understanding of the interlayer exchange in magnetic multilayers and potentially be useful for applications in spin thermionics.

Ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic bilayers are interfaced with normal metal/ferromagnetic bilayers to form F*/AF/N/F valves. The N-spacer thickness is chosen such that it mediates strong indirect exchange [Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY)] between the outer ferromagnetic layers, which varies in strength/direction depending on the N thickness and changes its direction on switching F. The system exhibits a strong modulation of the F*/AF exchange bias, oscillating in strength synchronously with the oscillation in the interlayer RKKY exchange across the normal metal spacer. The effect is explained as due to a superposition taking place within the antiferromagnetic layer of the direct-exchange proximity effect from the F*/AF interface and the indirect RKKY exchange from F penetrating AF via N. The modulation, expressed via the strength of the F*/AF bias field, reaches 400% at the first RKKY peak.

Using the method of SQUID magnetometry, the features of the antiferromagnet-ferromagnet thermomagnetic transition in arrays of the nanosized disks of Py/NiCu/Py synthetic antiferromagnets (SAFs) have been investigated. The effective interlayer interaction in individual SAFs “ferromagnet/diluted ferromagnet/ferromagnet” (F2/f/F1) changes from high-temperature antiferromagnetic to low-temperature ferromagnetic upon the transition at the Curie temperature T C f of the interlayer f. Temperature dependence of the magnetic parameters of individual layers and their effect on the features of the thermomagnetic transition are determined. The observed properties are important for the development of temperature-controlled nanoscale SAFs and multilayer nanostructures based on them.

We study magnetic multilayers, incorporating dilute ferromagnetic spacers between strongly-ferromagnetic layers exhibiting a proximity-enhanced magnetocaloric effect (MCE). Using magnetometry and direct measurements of the adiabatic temperature change based on a nanomembrane-calorimetry, we find that the MCE in the studied multilayer is indeed enhanced compared to that in the bulk spacer material. We develop a phenomenological numerical model of the studied trilayer and find that a long-range exchange interaction through the weakly-ferromagnetic spacer is required to adequately describe the magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of the system.

The study concerns dynamics of standing spin waves in arrays of sub-100 nm elliptic synthetic-antiferromagnet (SAF) nanodisks. We performed a detailed ferromagnetic resonance analysis in conjunction with micro magnetic modeling to find out several prominent traits of such systems. One broad line is shown to be the sole resonant response for a SAF of the considered sizes. We demonstrate that this mode is degenerated, and its excitation map resembles a superposition of in-center and edge-type oscillations. We also show how this hybrid excitation leads to almost twofold enhancement in the shape-induced anisotropy of the mode.

We investigate spin dynamics in nanodisk arrays of synthetic-antiferromagnets (SAF) made of Py/NiCu/Py trilayers, where the NiCu spacer undergoes a Curie transition at about 200 K. The observed ferromagnetic resonance spectra have three distinct resonance modes at room temperature, which are fully recreated in our micromagnetic simulations, showing also how the intra-SAF asymmetry can be used to create and control the higher-order resonances in the structure. Below the Curie temperature of the spacer, the system effectively transitions into a single-layer nanodisk array with only two resonance modes. Our results show how multilayering of nanoarrays can add tunable GHz functionality relevant for such rapidly developing fields as magnetic metamaterials, magnonic crystals, arrays of spin-torque oscillators, and neuromorphic junctions.

Exchange biasing in ferromagnet/antiferromagnet bilayers is known to enhance the material's ferromagnetic resonance frequency and make it strongly angle dependent due to the unidirectional anisotropy induced at the interface. We observe a ten-fold enhancement in frequency and angle-independent ferromagnetic resonance in bilayers of Py/FeMn with ultrathin FeMn, accompanied by a significantly enhanced magnetic moment. The observed isotropic frequency enhancement is consistent with rotatable rather than unidirectional magnetic anisotropy and the induced magnetic moment links this anisotropy with the ferromagnet-proximity effect. The estimated effective anisotropy field acting on the proximity-induced moment in ultrathin FeMn can be as high as 0.5 T at room temperature. Our results show the potential of the ferromagnetic proximity effect combined with the inherent exchange anisotropy in antiferromagnets for high-speed spintronic applications.

The magnetic properties of thin-film multilayers [Fe/Py]/FeMn/Py are investigated as a function of temperature and thickness of the antiferromagnetic FeMn spacer using SQUID magnetometry. The observed behavior differs substantially for the structures with 6 nm and 15 nm FeMn spacers. While the 15 nm FeMn structure exhibits exchange pinning of both ferromagnetic layers in the entire measurement temperature interval from 5 to 300 K, the 6 nm FeMn structure becomes exchange de-pinned in the vicinity of room temperature. The depinned state is characterized by a single hysteresis loop centered at zero field and having enhanced magnetic coercivity. The observed properties are explained in terms of finite-size effects and possible ferromagnetic interlayer coupling through the thin antiferromagnetic spacer.