Exchange bias in self-organized nanopatterned Cr/Fe junctions

We have investigated the exchange bias (EB) in ultrathin epitaxial Cr/Fe/Ag(001) nanopatterned bilayers characterized by atomic-scale-tailored interfaces consisting of nanoripples aligned along the [100](Fe) direction. Precisely measuring the magnetic anisotropy of the system, we quantitatively characterized the energetics of the magnetization reversal in terms of domain-wall propagation in the Fe layer and discussed the influence of the interface structure in determining the exchange bias and promoting the domain-wall processes. We found no influence of the relative orientation of the field-cooling direction with respect to the nanoripple orientation in determining the EB magnitude, but we observed that the anisotropic morphology generates characteristic spin frustrations affecting the energetics of different domain-wall processes.