Exchange Coupling in Nanoscale MnPd/Fe Heterostructures

We have studied the magnetic anisotropy in exchange coupled MnPd/Fe bilayers. The bilayers were grown in ultrahigh vacuum on MgO (001) substrates. An XRD investigation showed that the samples exhibit good crystalline quality and well-defined MnPd/Fe interfaces. The magnetic hysteresis loops show a strong dependence on in-plane orientation with respect to the bias direction. This directional dependence was successfully modeled by a simple analytical model which includes the Zeeman energy, the cubic, the unidirectional and the uniaxial magnetocrystalline anisotropy energies.