Molecular beam epitaxial methods have been used to grow single crystal Laves phase DyFe[sub 2]/YFe[sub 2] superlattice samples with a (110) growth direction. Detailed magnetization curves have been obtained for YFe[sub 2] dominated multilayer samples [wDyFe[sub 2]/4wYFe[sub 2]]x16 with w=45, 50, and 55 Å. In particular, it is shown that the formation of magnetic exchange springs in the magnetically soft YFe[sub 2] layers, can be used to engineer multilayer samples with a negative coercivity. Further, by using asymmetric field cycling procedures, we have investigated the irreversible parts of the M-B loop, associated with the switching of the DyFe[sub 2] multilayers. © 2001 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]