  Antiferromagnetically coupled multilayers with perpendicular anisotropy, as
[CoPt]/Ru, Co/Ir, Fe/Au, display ferromagnetic stripe phases as the ground
states. It is theoretically shown that the antiferromagnetic interlayer
exchange causes a relative shift of domains in adjacent layers. This ``exchange
shift'' is responsible for several recently observed effects: an anomalous
broadening of domain walls, the formation of so-called ``tiger-tail'' patterns,
and a ``mixed state'' of antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic domains in
[CoPt]/Ru multilayers. The derived analitical relations between the values of
the shift and the strength of antiferromagnetic coupling provide an effective
method for a quantitative determination of the interlayer exchange
interactions.
