Microscopic study on accelerated thermal signal decay by MFM

Summary form only given. We have learned from thermal decay spin-stand testing and thermal decay modeling Richter et al (IEEE Trans. Magn. vol. 37, p.1531-1533, 2001) that the thermal decay mechanisms of recorded signals are complex. In the previous paper a recorded transition is treated as a uniform entity cross the track since the readback signal from a spinstand is an average. This paper presents 3D microscopic details of recorded transitions by MFM before and after thermal decay and complements what we learned about thermal decay mechanisms.