Evidence Of Exchange Bias Effect Originating From The Interaction Between Antiferromagnetic Core And Spin Glass Shell

Spin glass behavior and exchange bias effect have been observed in antiferromagnetic SrMn3O6-x nanoribbons synthesized via a self-sacrificing template process. The magnetic field dependence of thermoremanent magnetization and isothermal remanent magnetization shows that the sample is good correspondence to spin glass and diluted antiferromagnetic system for the applied field H<2 T and H>2 T, respectively. By detailed analysis of training effect using Binek's model, we argue that the observed exchange bias effect in SrMn3O6-x nanoribbons arises entirely from an interface exchange coupling between the antiferromagnetic core and spin glass shell. The present study is useful for understanding the nature of shell layer and the origin of exchange bias effect in other antiferromagnetic nanosystems as well. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.