Anomalous Spontaneous Reversal in Magnetic Heterostructures
Anomalous Spontaneous Reversal in Magnetic Heterostructures
We observe a thermally induced spontaneous magnetization reversal of epitaxial ferromagnet/antiferromagnet heterostructures under a constant applied magnetic field. Unlike any other magnetic system, the magnetization spontaneously reverses, aligning antiparallel to an applied field with decreasing temperature. We show that this unusual phenomenon is caused by the interfacial antiferromagnetic coupling overcoming …