Precession-dominated reversal of synthetic antiferromagnets and synthetic ferrimagnets

The precessional dynamics of synthetic antiferromagnet and synthetic ferrimagnet structures is studied using numerical simulations. It is demonstrated that sub-nanosecond reversal of perfectly compensated disc elements (zero net moment) is possible with pulsed magnetic fields, for which the antiparallel alignment of the synthetic antiferromagnet can be largely preserved during reversal. The role of material parameters, such as interlayer coupling and magnetocrystalline anisotropy, is also studied extensively to find optimum switching diagrams for the smallest pulsed fields possible, whilst satisfying the usual thermal stability criteria for data retention.