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We report on a comprehensive study of the magnetic coupling between soft magnetic Fe layers and hard magnetic Dysprosium (Dy) layers at low temperatures (4.2 - 120K). For our experiments we prepared thin films of Fe and Dy and multilayers of Fe/Dy by ultra-high vacuum sputtering. The magnetic properties of each material were determined with a superconducting quantum interference device. Furthermore, we performed magnetoresistance measurements with similarly grown, microstructured devices, where the anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) effect was used to identify the magnetization state of the samples. By analyzing and comparing the corresponding data of Fe and Dy, we show that the presence of a Dy layer on top of the Fe layer significantly influences its magnetic properties and makes it magnetically harder. We perform a systematic evaluation of this effect and its dependence on temperature and on the thickness of the soft magnetic layer. All experimental results can consistently be explained with exchange coupling at the interface between the Fe and the Dy layer. Our experiments also yield a negative sign of the AMR effect of thin Dy films, and an increase of the Dy films' Curie temperature, which is due to growth conditions.

We investigate submicron ferromagnetic PdNi thin-film strips intended as contact electrodes for carbon nanotube-based spintronic devices. The magnetic anisotropy and micromagnetic structure are measured as function of temperature and aspect ratio. Contrary to the expectation from shape anisotropy, magnetic hysteresis measurements of Pd0.3Ni0.7 on arrays containing strips of various width point towards a magnetically easy axis in the sample plane, but transversal to the strip direction. Anisotropic magnetoresistance measured on individual Pd0.3Ni0.7 contact strips and magnetic force microscopy images substantiate that conclusion., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

We investigated spin dependent transport through Fe/GaAs/Fe tunnel junctions. The tunneling magnetoresistance effect (TMR) was probed for different types of Fe/GaAs interfaces. For interfaces cleaned by hydrogen plasma the TMR effect is increased and observable at room temperature. If an epitaxial Fe/GaAs(001) interface is involved, the tunnel junction exhibits a bias dependent inversion of the TMR effect. This is a first experimental signature for band structure effects at a Fe/GaAs interface and relevant for spin injection experiments., Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Appl. Phys. Lett