Simultaneous in-plane and out-of-plane exchange bias using a single antiferromagnetic layer resolved by x-ray magnetic circular dichroism

This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics.We present a study of exchange bias in ferromagnet/antiferromagnet/ferromagnet (FM/AFM/FM) trilayers, with in-plane and out-plane easy axes. Using element-specific x-ray magnetic circular dichroism, we demonstrate that simultaneous in-plane and out-of-plane exchange bias can be induced using a single antiferromagnet and zero field cooling, whereas field cooling only induces exchange bias to the layer with easy axis parallel to the cooling field. Our results further evidence the presence of pinned uncompensated moments in both the FM and AFM layers, implying that the AFM layer is capable of supporting uncompensated spins in two orthogonal directions at the same time