Rotation and wall propagation in multidomain Co/Pd islands

Patterned magnetic structures with sizes ranging from 30 nm to 5 μm have been fabricated to investigate the magnetization reversal of Co/Pd islands with perpendicular anisotropy. The nucleation field for reversal in islands capable of supporting a multidomain ground state (size ranging from 200 nm to 5 μm) is higher than the domain wall propagation field and is characterized by a Stoner-Wohlfarth-like angle dependence. Pre-reversed nucleation sites in the islands leads to the 1/cos(θ) switching behavior indicative of domain wall motion.