Study of the magnetization reversal mechanism in antiferromagnetic interlayer exchange coupling in LaCaMnO/CaRuTiO superlattices

In the year of 2017, our group reported the antiferromagnetic interlayer exchange coupling (AF-IEC) in La2/3Ca1/3MnO3/CaRu1/2Ti1/2O3 superlattices, which is the first time the AF-IEC phenomenon observed in an all-oxide-based system. The results have attracted wide attention for the delicate step-like reversal of magnetic moments in different layers. However, the exact micro-scale reversal mechanism cannot be revealed by traditional measurements. To solve the question, we need to obtain the magnetic depth profile in different states, that is, the ferromagnetic, the antiferromagnetic and the intermediate state. Polarized neutron reflectometry is a powerful tool to clarify the microscopic magnetic structure and help to figure out the crucial physical issues.