Quantitative Magneto-Mechanical Detection and Control of the Barkhausen Effect

Controlling Magnetic Noise Ferromagnetic materials contain a number of magnetic domains, with individual domains switching stochastically as the field strength is increased. As magnetic memory elements shrink in size, it is important to understand, and ultimately control, this magnetic noise. Using a magnetic vortex core integrated with a nanomechanical torsion balance, Burgess et al. (p. 1051 , published online 17 January) created a two-dimensional map of the magnetic potential within the sample with nanoscale resolution. Moreover, introducing geometric defects (dimples) in the sample allowed the magnetization to be stabilized.