Measurement of the anisotropy constant of antiferromagnets in metallic polycrystalline exchange biased systems

A method for the measurement of the anisotropy constant of the antiferromagnet (AF) KAF in exchange biased systems has been developed. This has been achieved by measurement of the median blocking temperature 〈TB〉 of a CoFe/IrMn bilayer. In thermal activation-free conditions, this is the temperature at which equal volumes of the AF are oriented in opposite senses. Hence, for a grain size dependent model, the critical volume for thermal activation at this point is equal to the median volume of the grain size distribution. A value of (5.5±0.5)×106 erg/cc has been obtained at room temperature for a 4 nm thick IrMn layer.