Magnetization relaxation of exchange biased (Pt/Co)5/Pt/IrMn multilayers with
perpendicular anisotropy was investigated by time-resolved Kerr microscopy.
Magnetization reversal occurs by nucleation and domain wall propagation for
both descending and ascending applied fields, but a much larger nucleation
density is observed for the descending branch, where the field is applied
antiparallel to the exchange bias field direction. These results can be
explained by taking into account the presence of local inhomogeneities of the
exchange bias field.Comment: To appear in Physical Review B (October 2005