Magnetic singularities in self-organized epitaxial cobalt structures

The dependence of the magnetic domain structures on mesoscopic hop (0001) cobalt structures are reported. For thin Co films grown, islands having a diameter of approximately 100nm and height from 10 to 30nm are observed. Domain structure is determined by the size and shape of the islands. As the thickness of the Co layer increases a topologically modulated continuous film is obtained whose domain structures are perturbed by the islands and the pine-holes introduced by the defect sites. The role of local imperfections on the instabilities and/or singularities in the domain structure are discussed. Index Term - Atomic and magnetic force microscopy, domain effects, self-organized structures, spin ordering.