Synthetic antiferromagnetic coupling between ultra-thin insulating garnets

Abstract: The use of magnetic insulators is attracting a lot of interest due to a rich variety of spin-dependent phenomena with potential applications to spintronic devices. Here we report ultra-thin yttrium iron garnet (YIG) / gadolinium iron garnet (GdIG) insulating bilayers on gadolinium iron garnet (GGG). From spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR) and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism measurements, we show that the YIG and GdIG magnetically couple antiparallel even in moderate in-plane magnetic fields. The results demonstrate an all-insulating equivalent of a synthetic antiferromagnet in a garnet-based thin film heterostructure and could open new venues for insulators in magnetic devices. As an example, we demonstrate a memory element with orthogonal magnetization switching that can be read by SMR.