All-oxide-based synthetic antiferromagnets exhibiting layer-resolved magnetization reversal.

Synthesizing antiferromagnets with correlated oxides has been challenging, owing partly to the markedly degraded ferromagnetism of the magnetic layer at nanoscale thicknesses. Here we report on the engineering of an antiferromagnetic interlayer exchange coupling (AF-IEC) between ultrathin but ferromagnetic LaCaMnO layers across an insulating CaRuTiO spacer. The layer-resolved magnetic switching leads to sharp steplike hysteresis loops with magnetization plateaus depending on the repetition number of the stacking bilayers. The magnetization configurations can be switched at moderate fields of hundreds of oersted. Moreover, the AF-IEC can also be realized with an alternative magnetic layer of LaSrMnO that possesses a Curie temperature near room temperature. The findings will add functionalities to devices with correlated-oxide interfaces.