Exchange bias controlled by electric current: Interplay of Joule heating and the induced field

Exchange bias is a unidirectional magnetic anisotropy developed in a bilayer of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic layers. Its technical importance as a "fix layer" is seen in various spintronic devices. The exchange bias can also be a probe to investigate the antiferromagnetic layer as it partly reflects the magnetic state of the antiferromagnet. In this work, we investigated the modulation of the exchange bias by a flow of electric current in Pt/Fe50Mn50/FeNi and Cu/Fe50Mn50/FeNi. We show that the exchange bias can be modulated just by applying the current due to interplay among the Joule heating, Ampere field, and current-induced effective field. (C) 2016 The Japan Society of Applied Physics