Probing Spin Configurations in Exchange-Coupled Magnetic Bilayers with Orthogonal Anisotropies via Anomalous Hall and Nernst Effects

Abstract

When two ferromagnetic thin films with different magnetic easy axes are coupled via the exchange interaction, the magnetization process becomes nontrivial. In this paper, we demonstrate that three-dimensional magnetization information in such a bilayer system can be accessed electrically by combining measurements of the anomalous Hall effect (AHE) and anomalous Nernst effect (ANE). Specifically, we investigate a CoFe${}_2$O${}_4$(001)/Fe bilayer, where the insulating nature of CoFe${}_2$O${}_4$ ensures that these transport measurements selectively probe only the conductive Fe layer. By combining the AHE and ANE results and comparing them with a simple micromagnetic simulation, we probe the magnetic configuration of antiferromagnetically coupled Fe layer and suggest the emergence of a twisted magnetic structure near the interface.