Elena Mengotti

Ultrafast heating as a sufficient stimulus for magnetization reversal in a ferrimagnet

The question of how, and how fast, magnetization can be reversed is a topic of great practical interest for the manipulation and storage of magnetic information. It is generally accepted that magnetization reversal should be driven by a stimulus represented by time-non-invariant vectors such as a magnetic field, spin-polarized electric current, or cross-product of two oscillating electric fields. However, until now it has been generally assumed that heating alone, not represented as a vector at all, cannot result in a deterministic reversal of magnetization, although it may assist this process. Here we show numerically and demonstrate experimentally a novel mechanism of deterministic magnetization reversal in a ferrimagnet driven by an ultrafast heating of the medium resulting from the absorption of a sub-picosecond laser pulse without the presence of a magnetic field.

Dipolar energy states in clusters of perpendicular magnetic nanoislands

We investigated the energy states in compact clusters of ferromagnetic islands with perpendicular anisotropy arranged on a triangular lattice. Due to their finite nature, we were able to determine the energies of all possible cluster states using dipolar energy calculations. We employed photoemission electron microscopy to observe the magnetic states in arrays of clusters of monodomain Co/Pt multilayer islands and following demagnetization, we observed a shift in the energy distribution to lower energies as the dipolar coupling increased. These multistate island clusters not only provide model arrangements of frustrated Ising-type nanomagnets but are also interesting for data storage applications.

Artificial kagome spin ice: dimensional reduction, avalanche control and emergent magnetic monopoles

Artificial spin-ice systems consisting of nanolithographic arrays of isolated nanomagnets are model systems for the study of frustration-induced phenomena. We have recently demonstrated that monopoles and Dirac strings can be directly observed via synchrotron-based photoemission electron microscopy, where the magnetic state of individual nanoislands can be imaged in real space. These experimental results of Dirac string formation are in excellent agreement with Monte Carlo simulations of the hysteresis of an array of dipoles situated on a kagome lattice with randomized switching fields. This formation of one-dimensional avalanches in a two-dimensional system is in sharp contrast to disordered thin films, where avalanches associated with magnetization reversal are two-dimensional. The self-organized restriction of avalanches to one dimension provides an example of dimensional reduction due to frustration. We give simple explanations for the origin of this dimensional reduction and discuss the disorder dependence of these avalanches. We conclude with the explicit demonstration of how these avalanches can be controlled via locally modified anisotropies. Such a controlled start and stop of avalanches will have potential applications in data storage and information processing.

Easy axis magnetization reversal in cobalt antidot arrays

The magnetization reversal in square lattice cobalt antidot arrays with the applied field at 45° to the antidot rows was investigated using Lorentz electron microscopy in the Fresnel mode. While the hysteresis loops from magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements only reflect the easy axis character of the reversal, several different reversal processes were identified in the Fresnel images depending on the field history. Details of this complex magnetization reversal were elucidated with micromagnetic simulations.

Controlling vortex chirality in hexagonal building blocks of artificial spin ice

We exploit dipolar coupling to control the magnetic states in assemblies of single-domain magnetic nanoislands, arranged in one, two and three adjacent hexagonal rings. On tailoring the shape anisotropy of specific islands, and thus their switching fields, we achieve particular target states with near perfect reliability, and are able to control the chirality of the vortex target states. The magnetic states are observed during magnetization reversal with x-ray photoemission electron microscopy and our results are generally in excellent agreement with a numerical model based on point dipoles and realistic values of disorder. We conclude with a quantitative discussion of how our results depend on disorder and the chosen bias in shape anisotropy.