Abstract

When a ferromagnetic metal (F) is in contact with an antiferromagnet (AF), often a shift of the hysteresis loop away from its normal, symmetric position around H=0, to H(E)not equal 0 does occur. This phenomenon is known as exchange bias (EB). We put forward an analytic model, for compensated AF interfaces, based on the AF interface freezing into a metastable canted spin configuration. The EB energy is reversibly stored in a spring-like magnet, or incomplete domain wall, in the F slab. Our theory yields the right values of H-E and its F thickness dependence H(E)proportional to t(F)(-1). It also predicts the F layer by layer magnetization profile. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0003- 6951(99)04151-0].