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An analytical model was developed to describe the current induced domain wall (DW) dynamics of a Bloch DW in the presence of an external transverse magnetic field. The model takes into account the DW deformation and the magnetization tilting in the domain. The model is compared to the results of micromagnetic simulation and an excellent agreement is obtained. In the steady state regime, the model shows that the domain tilting does not change the DW mobility. An external or current induced transverse magnetic field such as the Oersted or Rashba field can prevent the Walker breakdown leading to a higher domain wall velocity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We employ a scanning nitrogen-vacancy-center microscope to perform stray field imaging of bubble magnetic domains in a perpendicularly magnetized Pt/Co/AlOx trilayer with 6Å of Co. The stray field created by the domain walls is quantitatively mapped with few-nanometer spatial resolution, with a probe-sample distance of about 100nm. As an example of application, we show that it should be possible to determine the Bloch or Néel nature of the domain walls, which is of crucial importance to the understanding of current-controlled domain wall motion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the magnetic switching of MgO/Co/Pt pillars with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, for lateral pillar sizes from 30 μm to 2 lm and for Co layer thicknesses between 1.8 and 2.6 nm. For large pillars, both the coercivity and the remanent magnetization decrease for increasing Co thickness. For all Co thicknesses, the coercivity strongly increases upon decreasing the pillar size. A comparison with micromagnetic simulations shows that the change in coercivity is determined by size-dependent demagnetizing effects. Our results show that small pillars with perpendicular magnetization and a tunable coercivity can be fabricated from continuous layers with in-plane magnetization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finite size effects on the exchange-bias properties of patterned antiferromagnetic/ferromagnetic (IrMn/Co) nanodots were investigated experimentally and by numerical simulations. Both the dot lateral dimension (200 × 200 nm2-50 × 50 nm2) and ferromagnetic layer thickness (2-25 nm) were varied. Two different behaviours were observed: single-shifted loops with coherent reversal for thin Co layers and double-shifted loops via a multidomain state during magnetization reversal for thicker Co. Atomistic simulations including magnetostatic interactions confirmed the existence of these two different regimes. MOKE measurements, focused on few dots, allowed a quantitative evaluation of dot-to-dot exchange-bias variability, which becomes particularly large in the regime of switching via multidomain state formation. This variability issue is of particular importance in the context of MRAM development and of magnetoresistive heads for hard-disk drives [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domain wall propagation has been measured in continuous, weakly disordered, quasi-two-dimensional, Ising-like magnetic layers that are subject to spatially periodic domain wall pinning potentials. The potentials are generated non-destructively using the stray magnetic field of ordered arrays of magnetically hard [Co/Pt]m nanoplatelets, which are patterned above and are physically separated from the continuous magnetic layer. The effect of the periodic pinning potentials on thermally activated domain wall creep dynamics is shown to be equivalent, at first approximation, to that of a uniform, effective retardation field, Hret, which acts against the applied field, H. We show that Hret depends not only on the array geometry but also on the relative orientation of H and the magnetization of the nanoplatelets. A result of the latter dependence is that wall-mediated hysteresis loops obtained for a set nanoplatelet magnetization exhibit many properties that are normally associated with ferromagnet/antiferromagnet exchange bias systems. These include a switchable bias, coercivity enhancement, and domain wall roughness that is dependent on the applied field polarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For ferromagnetic (F)/antiferromagnetic (AF) nanodots contributions of AF spins to exchange bias is discussed. The relative weights of AF entities located at the dot edges, at the F/AF interface and in the AF grains were obtained by comparing the blocking temperature distribution of an array of nanodots with that of corresponding continuous film. Due to grain cutting, the grain size distribution is altered. We show here that the dot edges constitute additional locations for the formation of spin-glasslike AF regions at the F/AF interface. The result of patterning is thus twofold and weakens the dot ability to resist thermally activated magnetization reversal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electric (E)-field control of magnetic properties opens the prospects of an alternative to magnetic field or electric current activation to control magnetization. Multilayers with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy have proven to be particularly sensitive to the influence of an E-field due to the interfacial origin of their anisotropy. In these systems, E-field effects have been recently applied to assist magnetization switching and control domain wall (DW) velocity. Here we report on two new applications of the E-field in a similar material: controlling domain wall nucleation and stopping DW propagation at the edge of the electrode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the anisotropy of the spin and orbital magnetization of ultrathin Co layers characterized by structure inversion asymmetry, namely Pt/Co/AlOx trilayers with Co thicknesses between 0.6 and 2 nm. We use x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) to probe the Co layer along two orthogonal measurement geometries. By combining transverse and collinear XMCD, we achieve a vector measurement of the Co spin and orbital magnetic moments. We find an enhanced and anisotropic orbital magnetic moment localized at the Co interface and verify the connection between the Co orbital moment anisotropy and the macroscopic magnetic anisotropy of the trilayer. These results provide a link between diverse interfacial phenomena originating from spin-orbit coupling, such as the Rashba effect and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Using simple considerations derived from tight-binding models, we show that the Rashba constant is proportional to the ratio between out-of-plane and in-plane orbital magnetic moments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have used time-resolved x-ray photoemission electron microscopy to investigate the magnetization dynamics induced by nanosecond current pulses in NiFe/Cu/Co nanostripes. A large tilt of the NiFe magnetization in the direction transverse to the stripe is observed during the pulses. We show that this effect cannot be quantitatively understood from the amplitude of the Oersted field and the shape anisotropy. High-frequency oscillations observed at the onset of the pulses are attributed to precessional motion of the NiFe magnetization about the effective field. We discuss the possible origins of the large magnetization tilt and the potential implications of the static and dynamic effects of the Oersted field on current-induced domain-wall motion in such stripes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have measured the field dependence of the AC magnetic susceptibility of a single crystal of the molecular nanomagnet Fe8. Accelerations in the magnetic relaxation are observed at the field values corresponding to levels crossings. Other anomalies are observed around 1.5 and 3.5 kOe. We propose that they are due to a resonant tunnel mechanism involving the first excited spin state. With a simplified two spins model we find that a sizeable tunnel splitting is calculated at anti-crossing between states belonging to S=10 and 9 multiplets. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We show that the spin-orbit torque induced magnetization switching in nanomagnets presenting Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DMI) interaction is governed by a chiral domain nucleation at the edges. The nucleation is induced by the DMI and the applied in-plane magnetic field followed by domain-wall propagation. Our micromagnetic simulations show that the dc switching current can be defined as the edge nucleation current, which decreases strongly with increasing amplitude of the DMI. This description allows us to build a simple analytical model to quantitatively predict the switching current. We find that domain nucleation occurs down to a lateral size of 25 nm, defined by the length scale of the DMI, beyond which the reversal mechanism approaches a macrospin behavior. The switching is deterministic and bipolar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]