Charging on the metastable domain states of small NiFe rectangles

The effect of charging on the domain structure in thin NiFe shapes is studied experimentally. Satisfaction of the boundary condition leads to some rather energetic metastable domain structures with a high degree of charging, which often plays an important role in determination of the final domain shape. It is shown that the magnetic history of a rectangle has a strong influence on how much field is necessary to reverse the domain structure. Practical implications of the above results for magnetoresistive sensor design is discussed