Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 565, 170258 (2023)
A. Paul, P.D. Esquinazi, C.I. Zandalazini, A. Setzer, and W. Knolle
Abstract
Manipulation and control of defects triggered by an electron beam allow us to conduct defect engineering on layered materials. We investigate topologically stable helices within a [Dy(10 nm)/Tb(10 nm)]30 multilayer subjected to MeV electron(e)-irradiation up to a maximum fluence of 9.58 × 1018 e/cm2. As electrons can go through the sample homogeneously and with high penetration depth, they produce defects without doping. Our e-irradiation results indicate defect induced magnetic manipulation, which increases the blocking/freezing temperature of spin-frustrated interfaces by 4%. This increase implies an increase in the spin-cluster volume. Consequently, the reduced uncompensated pinning centres decrease the interfacial exchange bias coupling by 45%. Direct manipulation of pinning centres would thereby allow us to tailor spintronic devices in a clean way.