Bilayers consisting of a soft ferromagnet, Py(≡Ni_0.8Fe_0.2), and a canonical spin glass, CuMn (≡Cu_0.99Mn_0.01), have been deposited by UHV magnetron sputtering. The samples have been magnetically characterized using a commercial superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometer in the temperature range T = 3 – 40 K. Typical exchange bias [1] features, namely clear hysteresis-loop shifts and coercivity enhancements, have been observed after field cooling the bilayers through the freezing temperature, T_f, of the CuMn alloy. The presence of an inverse bias, which seems to be peculiar of spin glass-based structures [2,3], has been also observed in a well defined range of temperatures and CuMn thicknesses. Finally, the possible use of these systems for the realization of the superconducting spin valve [4] structure will be discussed.

[1] J. Nogués and I.K. Schuller, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 192, 203 (1999)

[2] M. Ali, P. Adie, C.H. Marrows, D. Greig, B.J. Hickey, and R.L. Stamps, Nature Materials 6, 70 (2007)

[3] F-T. Yuan, J.-K. Lin, Y.D. Yao, and S.-F. Lee, Appl. Phys. Lett. 96, 162502 (2010)

[4] L.R. Tagirov, Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 2058 (1999)