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Visualizing Uniaxial-strain Manipulation of Antiferromagnetic Domains in Fe1+YTe Using a Spin-polarized Scanning Tunneling Microscope
Published on: March 24, 2019
Tailoring magnetic anisotropy gradients by ion bombardment for domain wall positioning in magnetic multilayers with
Michał Matczak1, Bogdan Szymański2, Piotr Kuświk2
1Institute of Molecular Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. M. Smoluchowskiego 17, Poznań 60-179, Poland ; NanoBioMedical Centre, Adam Mickiewicz University, ul. Umultowska 85, Poznań 61-614, Poland.
Abstract:
Graded anisotropy magnetic materials possess a coercive field changing laterally with position. A simple fabrication procedure to produce such an anisotropy gradient in a polycrystalline Au/Co layer system without lateral thickness variation and with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, prototypical for a large variety of thin film systems, is shown. The procedure uses light-ion bombardment without the use of a mask. Magnetization reversal in this polycrystalline layer system takes place by unidirectional movement of a single domain wall only in regions with larger anisotropies and anisotropy gradients. In this anisotropy/anisotropy gradient regime, the domain wall is oriented perpendicular to the coercive field gradient, and it can be positioned along the gradient by an appropriate magnetic field pulse. For smaller anisotropies/anisotropy gradients, the natural anisotropy fluctuations of the polycrystalline layer system induce magnetization reversal dominated by domain nucleation.
Pacs:
75.30.Gw; 75.70.Cn; 75.60.Ch.
