Domain-Wall Pinning and Depinning at Soft Spots in Magnetic Nanowires

Author

Vogel, Andreas ; Wintz, Sebastian ; Kimling, Judith ; Bolte, Markus ; Strache, Thomas ; Fritzsche, Monika ; Im, Mi-Young ; Fischer, Peter ; Meier, Guido ; Fassbender, Jürgen

Author_Institution

Inst. fur Angewandte Phys., Univ. Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

Volume

46

Issue

6

fYear

2010

fDate

6/1/2010 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1708

Lastpage

1710

Abstract

The local modification of magnetic properties by ion irradiation opens the possibility to create pinning sites for domain walls in magnetic nanowires without geometric constrictions. Implantation of chromium ions into Ni₈₀Fe₂₀ nanowires is used to cause a local reduction of the saturation magnetization Ms and thus a decrease of the energy associated with the domain wall. Field-driven pinning and depinning of a domain wall at the here so-called magnetic soft spots is directly observed using magnetic transmission soft X-ray microscopy. The pinning rate and the depinning field considerably depend on the wire width and the chromium fluence.

Keywords

X-ray microscopy; ferromagnetic materials; ion beam effects; ion implantation; iron alloys; magnetic domain walls; magnetisation; nanowires; nickel alloys; Ni₈₀Fe₂₀; domain-wall pinning; geometric constrictions; ion implantation; ion irradiation; magnetic nanowires; magnetic soft spots; magnetic transmission soft X-ray microscopy; saturation magnetization; Chromium; Iron; Magnetic domain walls; Magnetic domains; Magnetic force microscopy; Magnetic properties; Nanowires; Saturation magnetization; Soft magnetic materials; Wire; Domain walls and domain structure; intrinsic properties of magnetically ordered materials; magnetic properties of nanostructures; magnetization reversal mechanisms;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TMAG.2010.2042285

Filename

5467416