Microscopic domain structures in unidirectional and isotropic exchange-coupled NiO/NiFe bilayers

The dependence on nickel oxide thickness in unidirectional and isotropic exchange-coupled NiO/NiFe bilayer films was investigated by magnetic force microscopy to better understand exchange biasing at microscopic length scales. As the NiO thickness increased, the domain structure of unidirectional biased films formed smaller and more complex in-plane domains. By contrast, for the isotropically coupled films, large domains generally formed with increasing NiO thickness including a new cross type domain with out-of-plane magnetization orientation. The density of the cross domain is proportional to exchange biasing field, and the fact that the domain mainly originated from the strongest exchange coupled region was confirmed by imaging in an applied external field during a magnetization cycle.