Investigation on the antiferromagnetic component in the intrinsic exchange bias in structurally single phase Cr 2Te 3 thin film

Abstract

We report the intrinsic exchange bias in structurally single phase Cr 2Te 3 thin film grown by low temperature molecular beam epitaxy. The hysteresis loop shift is confirmed due to the ferromagnet/ antiferromagnet coupling rather than surface spin disorder effect or minor loop effect. The AFM component attributing to the exchange bias stems from the vacancy Cr layer in Cr 2Te 3 and is of two dimensions. The magnetic properties of the AFM component are investigated by studying the temperature dependence and the measure field dependence of coercivity and hysteresis loop shift. The blocking temperature is determined to be about 110 K. It is found that the two dimensional AFM component would lose its irreversibility for larger applied measure field. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.