Magnetic reversal in a (110)-oriented [DyFe 2 (60 Å)/YFe 2 (240 Å) × 15 multilayer film is investigated using magnetometry, micro-magnetic modeling, and element-specific soft x-ray magnetic circular dichroism. At temperatures between ∼60 and 120 K, the magnetic reversal involves a two-step process. It is shown that the reversal mechanism can be described as switching from an in-plane [001] reversed anti-ferromagnetic state, to an out-of-plane [100] transverse spring exchange state, and finally to an in-plane [001] magnetic exchange spring state. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.