Coercivity enhancement in the SrRuO3/SrMnO3 superlattices

Magnetic superlattices consisting of ferromagnetic SrRuO3 and antiferromagnetic SrMnO3 have been grown on (001)-oriented SrTiO3 substrates using the pulsed laser deposition technique. Zero-field-cooled and field-cooled out-of-plane hysteresis loops with different range of magnetic fields have been measured for the series of superlattices. The coercive field of the ferromagnetic layer in SrRuO3-SrMnO3 superlattices is 12 times larger than that of the thin film of SrRuO3. This enhancement in the coercive field can be explained using the concept of the interplay of the pinning energy and the microscopic biased field. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.