Sub-nanosecond non-Arrhenius magnetic switching in perpendicular multilayers

Author

Ju, Ganping ; van de Veerdonk, R.J.M. ; Svedberg, E.B. ; Wierman, K.W. ; Weller, D. ; Howard, K.J. ; Kryder, M.H. ; Tamaru, S. ; Wolfson, J.T. ; Bain, J.A.

Author_Institution

Seagate Res., Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Volume

37

Issue

4

fYear

2001

fDate

7/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1570

Lastpage

1572

Abstract

Measurements are presented of sub-nanosecond magnetization reversal processes of perpendicularly magnetized (CoCr/Pt) multilayers using real-time Kerr microscopy. The multilayers are placed on a ring-type recording head which is used as a sub-ns risetime field source. In the gap of the write head the magnetic field direction changes rapidly from in-plane to out-of-plane. By scanning the laser beam across the gap the influence of the field angle on the reversal process is studied. The reversal time depends critically on the field angle, and faster switching occurs close to the gap (pole edge) due to the increase of the in-plane field. On the time scale of the study, the rotational (non-Arrhenius) switching seems to dominate

Keywords

chromium alloys; cobalt alloys; ferromagnetic materials; magnetic heads; magnetic multilayers; magnetic switching; magnetisation reversal; perpendicular magnetic recording; platinum; CoCr-Pt; field angle; in-plane; magnetic field direction; magnetization reversal processes; out-of-plane; perpendicular multilayers; pole edge; real-time Kerr microscopy; reversal time; ring-type recording head; sub-nanosecond nonArrhenius magnetic switching; sub-ns risetime field source; time scale; write head; Delay; Magnetic fields; Magnetic heads; Magnetic multilayers; Magnetic recording; Magnetic switching; Magnetization reversal; Optical pulses; Perpendicular magnetic recording; Space vector pulse width modulation;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.950903

Filename

950903