Direct manipulation of the uncompensated antiferromagnetic spins in exchange coupled system by GeV ion irradiation

Incident ion energy to matrix electrons of a material is dissipated within a narrow cylinder surrounding the swift heavy ion path. The temperature of the lattice exceeds the melting point and upon quenching causes nanometric modifications. We present here a unique ex situ approach in manipulating the uncompensated spins in antiferromagnetic layers of ferro-/antiferromagnetic exchange coupled systems on a nanometric scale. We use the impact of relativistic heavy ion (1-2 GeV) irradiation on such systems. We find an increase in the bias field and a restoration of the reversal via domain nucleation in the trained state. These are identified as plausible results of ion-induced antiferromagnetic ordering with little or no effect on the layer structure. This study demonstrates, therefore, the possibility of nanoscale tailoring of exchange coupled systems that survive even in the trained state. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4729472]