Training of the exchange-bias effect in NiO-Fe heterostructures

The training effect of a NiO(001)/Fe(110) heterostructure is studied from magnetic hysteresis loops measured by superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry. Consecutive hysteresis loops exhibit a decreasing exchange bias effect. This behavior is known as the training effect, which reflects the dependence of the exchange bias field on the antiferromagnetic interface magnetization. In order to evidence this dependence, we study the decrease of the total saturation magnetization of the heterostructure for an increasing number of hysteresis cycles. Assuming proportionality between the interface magnetization and the total saturation magnetization, the description of the data is consistent within the phenomenological Meiklejohn Bean approach.