Exchange bias tuned by cooling field in phase separated Y0.2Ca0.8MnO3

The effect of cooling field H-FC on the exchange bias field H-EB in a spontaneous lamellar ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic phase separated Y0.2Ca0.8MnO3 has been studied. It is found that with increasing H-FC from 1 to 6 T the value of H-EB decreases by 37% at 2 K and is inversely proportional to the ferromagnetic layer thickness t(FM). This suggests that the tuning of H-EB by H-FC in Y0.2Ca0.8MnO3 arises from the variation of t(FM) with H-FC. This phenomenon is essentially different from other types of magnetic tunings. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.