Exchange bias due to coupling between coexisting antiferromagnetic and spin-glass orders

Abstract

Exchange bias is a property of widespread technological utility, but whose underlying mechanism remains elusive, in part because it is rooted in the interaction of coexisting order parameters in the presence of complex magnetic disorder. Here, we show that a giant exchange bias housed within a spin-glass phase arises in a disordered antiferromagnet. The magnitude and robustness of the exchange bias emerges from a convolution of two energetic landscapes -- the highly degenerate landscape of the spin-glass biased by the sublattice spin-configuration of the antiferromagnet. The former provides a source of uncompensated moment, while the latter provides a mechanism for its pinning, leading to the exchange bias. Tuning the relative strength of the spin-glass and antiferromagnet order parameters reveals a principle for tailoring the exchange bias, with potential applications to spintronic technologies.