Magnetisation reversal in low-coercivity PrFeB materials

Models proposed to analyse magnetisation reversal in high-coercivity magnets should, in principle, apply to low-coercivity materials. Magnetisation reversal in low-coercivity PrFeB (μ₀H_c≈0.1 T at 4.2 K) is examined in the present paper within the so-called global model. For such low-μ₀H_c values, pinning is expected to occur. The parameters deduced from the analysis are consistent with this process. As expected from simple considerations on magnetisation reversal processes, the activation volume, v_a, is larger in low-coercivity PrFeB than in high-coercivity magnets. The quantitative analysis shows, however, that the reversal mechanisms are not identical.     

磁涡旋极性翻转的局域能量

针对坡莫合金纳米圆盘中的单个磁涡旋结构,采用微磁学模拟研究了磁涡旋极性翻转过程中的局域能量密度.磁涡旋的极性翻转通过与初始涡旋极性相反的涡旋与反涡旋对的生成,以及随后发生的反涡旋与初始涡旋的湮没来实现.模拟结果显示当纳米圆盘样品中局域能量密度的最大值达到一临界值时,磁涡旋将会实现极性翻转,其中交换能起主导作用.基于涡旋极性翻转过程中出现的三涡旋态结构,应用刚性磁涡旋模型对局域交换能量密度进行了理论分析.通过刚性磁涡旋模型得到的磁涡旋极性翻转所需的局域交换能量密度的临界值与模拟结果符合得较好.     

Magnetisation reversal in media with perpendicular anisotropy

In this paper, we discuss two key aspects of magnetisation reversal in magnetic thin films with perpendicular anisotropy. Firstly, a study has been made of the additional field required to erase data written perpendicular to a thin film recording disk as the linear data density is increased. It has been found that an increase in data density from 40 to 360 kfci results in an increase of 1.25 kOe in the field required to erase the data. Secondly, the effect of varying the level of exchange coupling by co-sputtering CoCrPt samples with SiO₂ has been studied using a characterisation technique that is independent of the self-demagnetising field. It has been found that the samples are fully exchange de-coupled when the film contains >9.8% SiO₂ and the activation volume of reversal remains constant for higher levels of SiO₂.     

Magnetization reversal via bloch points nucleation in nanowires and dots: a micromagnetic study

Micromagnetic studies of the reversal of stripe domains in elements of different geometries are reported. Various 2D and 3D codes are used in order to allow comparison between an infinite slab, nanowires and dots. Starting from a saturated state the establishment of stripe domains through the sample is first studied. Contrary to the thin film case, the nucleation of this pattern is not uniform and is very different to the geometry of a wire or an isolated dot. Special attention is paid to the reversal of the core of the vortex (the remnants of inner walls between up and down domains) which requires the insertion of point singularities called Bloch points (BP) either at surfaces or created in a pair depending on the length allowed for the stripe in the corresponding element. The magnetization distribution around the core of the various BP is described in detail as well as the key characteristics of their motion. Finally, some experiments are suggested predicting the behaviour of stripe domains under an applied field.     

利用扫描透射X射线显微镜观测磁涡旋结构

利用上海光源软X射线谱学显微光束线站(STXM)并结合X射线的磁圆二色效应, 我们对方形、圆形和三角形的Ni₈₀Fe₂₀薄膜微结构中的磁涡旋结构进行了定量实验观测, 并利用同步辐射光源的元素分辨特性, 分别在Fe和Ni的L₃吸收边对涡旋磁结构进行了观测. 我们还对磁涡旋中磁矩的分布进行了定量分析, 发现实验结果与微磁学模拟结果完全符合.     

Kinetics of vortex structure formation in magnetic materials

A kinetic scenario for the formation of a vortex phase in magnetic materials is discussed. It is found that such a phase can be generated from fluctuations at the kinetic stage of evolution and can subsequently be fixed as a thermodynamically stable phase. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 111, 1775–1786 (May 1997)     

Influence of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction on the magnetic vortex reversal in an off-centered nanocontact geometry

The influence of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) on the vortex reversal driven by an out-of-plane spin-polarized current in an off-centered nanocontact structure is investigated. The simulation results show that DMI plays a vital role in vortex core reversal, including reversal current density, reversal velocity and reversal time. Under the influence of DMI, magnetic vortices still reverse polarity through the nucleation and annihilation of vortex and anti-vortex, with some peculiar characteristics. These results open up new possibilities for the application of magnetic vortex-based spin-transfer encryption nano-storage.     

Magnetic excitations in a weak-stripe-domain structure: A 2D dynamic micromagnetic approach

The high-frequency susceptibility spectra of ferromagnetic films supporting a weak-stripe-domain structure are computed using a 2D dynamic micromagnetic model that we have developed. The existence of multiple resonances resulting from the excitation of surface and volume modes is predicted. The main features of spectra (number of resonances, resonance frequencies, intensities, and linewidths) strongly depend on the equilibrium spin configuration and on the rf exciting field orientation. These theoretical results are successfully compared with zero-field microwave permeability measurements.     

A color magnetic vortex condensate in QCD

It is shown that there exists a very close analogy between a lattice of vortices in a superconductor near the critical field and a condensate of color magnetic flux tubes due to the unstable mode in QCD. This analogy makes it possible to identify a dynamical Higgs field in QCD. We show that the color magnetic flux tubes are quantized in terms of the center group Z(2) in the SU(2) case. In the case of SU(N) it is possible to select a color direction of the field such that one has Z(N) quantization.     

Micromagnetic study of magnetic domain structure and magnetization reversal in amorphous wires with circular anisotropy

In this work we present a detailed numerical investigation on the magnetic domain formation and magnetization reversal mechanism in sub-millimeter amorphous wires with negative magnetostriction by means of micromagnetic calculations. The formation of circular magnetic domains surrounding a multidomain axially oriented central nucleus was observed for the micromagnetic model representing the amorphous wire. The magnetization reversal explained by micromagnetic computations for the M-H curve is described in terms of a combined nucleation-propagation−rotational mechanism after the saturated state. Results are interpreted in terms of the effective magnetic anisotropy.     

Observation and modelling of magnetic vortex core structure in Permalloy nanoparticles

We use an approximate micromagnetic model, based on geometrical simplifications of the problem, to describe the vortex core structure observed in spherical Permalloy nanoparticles using off-axis electron holography. The magnetisation distribution inside the vortex core is directly calculated by minimising the micromagnetic energy functional and is compared with the experimental results. The symmetry constraints underlying the model are discussed envisaging possible generalisation to the case of vortex cores with structure strongly dependent on the coordinate directed along the axis of the vortex. Moreover the many-body effect associated with the presence of two small satellite particles is described by rescaling the size of the particle.     

Contribution of magnetostatic interaction to magnetization reversal of Fe3Pt nanowires arrays: A micromagnetic simulation

Using the micromagnetic simulations, we have investigated the magnetization reversal and magnetostatic interaction of Fe₃Pt nanowires arrays with wire diameters lower than 40 nm. By changing the number of interacting nanowires, N, interwire distance, a, and wire diameter, D, the effects of magnetostatic interaction on coercivity and remanence are investigated in detail. According to the simulated results, the contribution to the stray field induced by surface perpendicular magnetization at the end of wires is established.     

Strong radiation of spin waves by core reversal of a magnetic vortex and their wave behaviors in magnetic nanowire waveguides

We conducted micromagnetic numerical studies on the strong radiation of spin waves (SWs) produced by the magnetic-field-induced reversal of a magnetic vortex core, as well as their wave behaviors in magnetic nanowires. It was found that the radial SWs can be emitted intensively from a vortex core in a circular dot by virtue of localized large torques employed at the core, and then can be injected into a long nanowire via their contact. These SWs exhibit wave characteristics such as propagation, reflection, transmission, interference, and dispersion. These results offer a preview of the generation, delivery, and manipulation of SWs in magnetic elements, which are applicable to information-signal processing in potential SW devices.     

A single Abrikosov vortex trapped in a mesoscopic superconducting cylindrical surface

We investigate the behaviour of a single Abrikosov vortex trapped in a mesoscopic superconducting cylindrical surface with a magnetic field applied transverse to its axis. In the framework of the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau formalism we show that, provided the transport current and the magnetic field are not large, the vortex behaves as an overdamped quasi-particle in a tilted washboard potential. The cylindrical thin strip with the trapped vortex exhibits E(J) curves and time-dependent electric fields very similar to the ones exhibited by a resistively shunted Josephson weak link.     

Two distinct magnetic susceptibility peaks and magnetic reversal events in a cylindrical core/shell spin-1 Ising nanowire

The magnetization and susceptibility of a cylindrical core/shell spin-1 Ising nanowire are investigated within the effective-field theory with correlations for both ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic exchange interactions between the shell and the core. We find that the nanowire system exhibits two distinct susceptibility peaks and two successive phase transitions; either both of them are second-order transitions or one is a second-order transition and the other is a first-order transition for a small exchange interaction. The susceptibility versus switching field and the hysteresis behavior are investigated for different temperatures. It is found that the magnetization reversal events appear as peaks in the susceptibility versus switching field curve, the positions of which define the coercive field points of the nanowire system; the distance between the two susceptibility peaks decreases with increasing temperature.     

Soft X-ray resonant magnetic scattering study of magnetization reversal in low dimensional magnetic heterostructures

Soft X-ray resonant magnetic scattering (SXRMS) has been used to investigate the microscopic magnetization reversal behavior of complex magnetic systems. SXRMS is a unique technique, providing chemical, spatial and magnetic sensitivity, which is not affected by external magnetic fields. The study of two selected thin magnetic heterostructures is presented, amorphous rare-earth transition metal alloys and perpendicular exchange coupled antiferromagnetic/ferromagnetic films. In the first system, the internal structure of magnetic stripe domains on nanometer length scales is obtained by measuring bi-dimensional (2D) scattering images. In the second system, the element specificity is exploited to identify the role of the uncompensated spins in the antiferromagnetic layer on the exchange coupling phenomena. Future trends are also discussed.