Rafael P. del Real

Local magnetization profile and geometry magnetization effects in microwires as determined by magneto-optical Kerr effect

The local magnetization profile along the length in magnetostrictive Fe-based magnetic microwires has been determined by magneto-optical Kerr effect. The study has been performed in microwires with different geometrical dimensions (i.e., diameter and length). The profiles of remanent magnetization and coercivity remain constant at the middle part for all microwires, whereas significant reduction of net magnetization accompanied by significant change of coercivity is observed when approaching their ends. This local region extends just few tens of micrometer for thin (around 1 μm diameter) wires and up to several hundreds of micrometer for thick (around 10 μm diameter) wires. That predicts that critical length to observe bistability goes from 50 μm to nearly 1 mm as diameter increases from 1 to 10 μm. Results are further interpreted considering the local distribution of magnetic charges at the ends which, arising to reduce stray fields, lead in some cases to inverted loops.

Vortex domain wall propagation in periodically modulated diameter FeCoCu nanowire as determined by the magneto-optical Kerr effect

Control over the magnetization reversal process of nanowires is essential to current advances in modern spintronic media and magnetic data storage. Much effort has been devoted to permalloy nanostrips with rectangular cross section and vanishing crystalline anisotropy. Our aim was to unveil and control the reversal process in FeCoCu nanowires with significant anisotropy and circular cross section with tailored periodical modulations in diameter. Magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements and their angular dependence performed on individual nanowires together with their analysis allow us to conclude that the demagnetization process takes place due to the propagation of a single vortex domain wall which is eventually pinned at given modulations with slightly higher energy barrier. In addition these results create new expectations for further controlling of the propagation of single and multiple domain walls.

Magnetic interactions in compositionally modulated nanowire arrays

Series of high hexagonally ordered compositionally modulated nanowire arrays, with different Cu layer and FeCoCu segment thicknesses and a constant diameter of 35 nm, were fabricated by electroplating from a single electrolytic bath into anodic aluminum oxide membranes. The objective of the study was to determine the influence of ferromagnetic (FM) segment and non-ferromagnetic (NFM) layer thickness on the magnetic properties, particularly coercivity and magnetic interactions. First-order reversal curve (FORC) measurements and simulations were performed to quantify the effect of the inter-/intra-nanowire magnetostatic interactions on the coercivity and interaction field distributions. The FORC coercivity increases for a thick NFM layer and long FM segments due to decoupling of the the FM segments and the increased shape anisotropy, respectively. On the other hand, the interaction field presents a parallel strong reduction for a thick NFM layer and thin FM segments, which is ascribed to a similar NFM/FM thickness ratio and degree of FM segment decoupling along the nanowire.

Micromagnetism of dense permalloy antidot lattices from anodic alumina templates

Hexagonally ordered Py antidot arrays were prepared by sputtering onto anodic alumina membrane templates, with varying antidot diameter and lattice constant parameter. Experimental magnetic characterization together with micromagnetic simulations was performed to unveil the coercivity mechanism. Experimental measurements show that coercivity monotoni- cally increases with the antidot diameter in reasonable agreement with simulations. This is under- stood considering the presence of geometrical micrometric domains with perfect hexagonal order. Contrarily, simulations for a single crystal sample predict that the coercivity should decrease with the antidots diameter. Copyright c EPLA, 2012

Nanometer Scale Hard/Soft Bilayer Magnetic Antidots.

The effect of arrays of nanometer scale pores on the magnetic properties of thin films has been analyzed. Particularly, we investigated the influence of the out-of-plane magnetization component created by the nanopores on the in-plane magnetic behavior of patterned hard/soft magnetic thin films in antidot morphology. Its influence on the coupling in Co/Py bilayers of few tens of nanometer thick is compared for disordered and ordered antidots of 35-nm diameter. The combination of magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) and first-order reversal curve (FORC) technique allows probing the effects of the induced perpendicular magnetization component on the bilayer magnetic behavior, while magnetic force microscopy (MFM) is used to image it. We found that ordered antidots yield a stronger out-of-plane component than disordered ones, influencing in a similar manner the hard layer global in-plane magnetic behavior if with a thin or without soft layer. However, its influence changes with a thicker soft layer, which may be an indication of a weaker coupling.

Magnetization Ratchet in Cylindrical Nanowires

The unidirectional motion of information carriers such as domain walls in magnetic nanostrips is a key feature for many future spintronic applications based on shift registers. This magnetic ratchet effect has so far been achieved in a limited number of complex nanomagnetic structures, for example, by lithographically engineered pinning sites. Here we report on a simple remagnetization ratchet originated in the asymmetric potential from the designed increasing lengths of magnetostatically coupled ferromagnetic segments in FeCo/Cu cylindrical nanowires. The magnetization reversal in neighboring segments propagates sequentially in steps starting from the shorter segments, irrespective of the applied field direction. This natural and efficient ratchet offers alternatives for the design of three-dimensional advanced storage and logic devices.

Structural and Magnetic Characterization of FeCoCu/Cu Multilayer Nanowire Arrays

A series of [FeCoCu/Cu(x)]10 (7 ≤ × ≤ 40 nm with FeCoCu layer thickness of 300 nm) and [FeCoCu(y)/Cu]10 (120 ≤ y ≤ 900 nm with Cu layer thickness of 15 nm) arrays of multilayer nanowires, 35 nm in diameter, were fabricated by electrodeposition into self-assembled pores of anodic alumina membranes. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis confirm the segregation of layered structures, with well-defined Cu layers (fcc cubic structure) separating FeCoCu-alloy segments (bcc cubic structure). Hysteresis loop measurements indicate an overall magnetization easy axis parallel to the nanowires in all the samples. For constant FeCoCu segment length, the coercivity, the remanence, and especially, the susceptibility increase with the Cu layer thickness, whereas for the series with constant Cu layer thickness, the susceptibility significantly decreases with FeCoCu segment length. Complementary Henkel curves indicate that the net inter/intrananowires magnetostatic interactions always contribute to the demagnetization of the nanowires. The variation of the susceptibility with FeCoCu and Cu layers thickness together with the Henkel plots data indicate that a reduced demagnetizing effect is achieved for multilayer nanowires with the thicker Cu layer and the shorter FeCoCu segment, for which a moderated reduction in saturation magnetization of around 11% is estimated compared to a continuous FeCoCu alloy nanowire array.

Micromagnetic evaluation of the dissipated heat in cylindrical magnetic nanowires

Magnetic nanowires (NWs) are promising candidates for heat generation under AC-field application due to their large shape anisotropy. They may be used for catalysis, hyperthermia, or water purification treatments. In the present work, we theoretically evaluate the heat dissipated by a single magnetic nanowire, originated from the domain wall (DW) dynamics under the action of an AC-field. We compare the Permalloy NWs (which demagnetize via the transverse wall propagation) with the Co fcc NWs whose reversal mode is via a vortex domain wall. The average hysteresis loop areas—which are proportional to the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR)—as a function of the field frequency have a pronounced maximum in the range 200 MHz–1 GHz. This maximum frequency is smaller in Permalloy than that in Co and depends on the nanowire length. A simple model related to the nucleation and propagation time and DW velocity (higher for the vortex than for the transverse domain wall) is proposed to explain the non-monotonic SAR depende...

Nanometric Metal-Film Thickness Measurement Based on a Planar Spiral Coils Stack

This paper presents a sensor composed of a differential arrangement of coils capable of measuring nanometric metallic film thickness. Experimental results achieved aluminum thickness measurements as low as 20 nm with a sensitivity of 3.8 mV/nm. This makes this sensor a flexible, nondestructive, and cheap alternative for metallic thickness measurement down to nanometric scale.

Synthesis and magnetism of modulated FeCo-based nanowires

FeCo based nanowire arrays have been proposed for different applications as high-density magnetic storage or sprintronics. Depending on the application different magnetic properties are required and the electrochemical techniques are low-cost routes to tailor them, by tuning the nanowires composition and geometry. In this work two different types of nanowires are studied: multisegmented nanowires and nanowires with modulated diameter. The magnetic properties of multisegmented [FeCoCu(y)/Cu(x)]10 nanowire arrays have been studied considering different Cu layer thicknesses (x) and FeCoCu segment lengths (y). The obtained results show that the hard magnetic properties of these nanowire arrays present a higher coercivity and remanence comparing to the continuous nanowires, for thicker Cu layers and shorter FeCoCu segments. On the other hand, for the nanowires with modulated diameter it has been stated that the magnetization reversal process takes place by a vortex domain wall and with the tailored modulations along the nanowire it is possible to induce the domain wall pinning. This opens the possibility of controlling the domain wall motion along magnetic nanowires.