Observation of giant exchange bias effect in Ni-Mn-Ti all-d-metal Heusler alloy

We report a giant exchange bias (EB) field of about 3.68 kOe during field cooled process in all-d-metal Ni-40(FeCo)(4)Mn36Ti20 Heusler alloy. The study of magnetic memory effect and isothermal magnetic relaxation processes suggest that the giant EB field arises due to the possible coexistence of antiferromagnetic (AFM) and ferromagnetic (FM) phase exchange interaction in the studied system at temperatures below 35 K. Furthermore, the temperature and cooling field dependence of EB effect are analyzed which are related to the change in unidirectional anisotropy at FM/AFM interface. The study of a well-established training effect confirms the intrinsic nature of the observed EB behavior. This result will open up a new way toward the development of EB materials considering all-d-metal Heusler alloy systems.