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.

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 demagnetization and associated magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in strong-weak-strong ferromagnetic trilayers, upon a reorientation of the strong ferromagnets from parallel to antiparallel (AP) magnetization, is simulated using atomistic spin dynamics. The simulations yield non-trivial spin distributions in the AP state, which in turn allows entropy to be calculated directly. The influence of longer-range spin–spin interactions and of variable strength of the external switching field are investigated. Finally, we find that the MCE in the system can be significantly improved by allowing the local exchange to vary through the spacer, which in practice can be implemented by spatially tailoring the spacer's magnetic dilution.

Magnetic properties of multilayered [Fe–Cr/Cr] ×8 nanostruc-tures with the interlayer exchange coupling of the antiferro-magnetic type and without the interlayer coupling have been studied. The values of the saturation magnetization and the interlayer exchange coupling constant are shown to strongly depend on the thickness and non-magnetic dilution of the Fe– Cr layers. It is found that those parameters differently affect the interlayer exchange coupling, which is explained by an interplay between the size effect (the thickness of the Fe–Cr lay-ers) and the magnetic polarization of the Fe–Cr/Cr interfaces depending on the Fe concentration.

A low-temperature feature is detected in nanogranular magnetic films with perpendicular anisotropy that have a low-field positive magnetoresistance: positive magnetoresistance is observed during the initial magnetization of the demagnetized sample, but is absent when the magnetic field is removed and/or during subsequent magnetizations. This effect is studied using a Co-x(Al2On)(1-x)film withx = 0.60, consisting of Co metal nanogranules in an Al(2)O(n)insulating matrix withnclose to 3. It is found that together with perpendicular anisotropy, the film has local in-plane anisotropy with randomly oriented easy axes, which prevents the reorientation of the granules' magnetic moment projections in the film plane below a certain blocking temperature. The restoration of the local short-range order in the orientation of the magnetic moments of the demagnetized film's neighboring granules, which is optimal for conductivity and is destroyed by the introduction of a magnetic field, is prevented at temperatures below the blocking temperature and is not restored during subsequent cycles of introducing/removing the magnetic field without heating to temperatures above the blocking temperature.

We demonstrate a 20-fold enhancement in the strength of the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interlayer exchange in dilute-ferromagnet/normal-metal multilayers by incorporating ultrathin Fe layers at the interfaces. Additionally, the resulting increase in the interface magnetic polarization profoundly affects the finite-size effects, sharpening the Curie transition of the multilayer, while allowing us to separately tune its Curie temperature via intra-layer magnetic dilution. These results should be useful for designing functional materials for applications in magnetocaloric micro-refrigeration and thermally assisted spin-electronics.

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 (RKKY) between the outer ferromagnetic layers, which varies in strength/direction depending on the N thickness and in 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.