Domain-wall structure in thin films with perpendicular anisotropy: Magnetic force microscopy and polarized neutron reflectometry study
Name
PhysRevB.90.054425.pdf
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2.79 MB
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Author(s)
Navas, David Otero
Redondo, Carolina
Badini Confalonieri, Giovanni A.
Batallan, Francisco
Devishvili, Anton
Asenjo, Agustina
Ross, Caroline A.
Toperverg, Boris P.
Iglesias-Freire, Oscar
Date Issued
August 2014
Journal
Physical Review B
Publisher
American Physical Society
Citation
Navas, David, Carolina Redondo, Giovanni A. Badini Confalonieri, Francisco Batallan, Anton Devishvili, Oscar Iglesias-Freire, Agustina Asenjo, Caroline A. Ross, and Boris P. Toperverg. “Domain-Wall Structure in Thin Films with Perpendicular Anisotropy: Magnetic Force Microscopy and Polarized Neutron Reflectometry Study.” Phys. Rev. B 90, no. 5 (August 2014). © 2014 American Physical Society
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Ferromagnetic domain patterns and three-dimensional domain-wall configurations in thin CoCrPt films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy were studied in detail by combining magnetic force microscopy and polarized neutron reflectometry with micromagnetic simulations. With the first method, lateral dimension of domains with alternative magnetization directions normal to the surface and separated by domain walls in 20-nm-thick CoCrPt films were determined in good agreement with micromagnetic simulations. Quantitative analysis of data on reflectometry shows that domain walls consist of a Bloch wall in the center of the thin film, which is gradually transformed into a pair of Néel caps at the surfaces. The width and in-depth thickness of the Bloch wall element, transition region, and Néel caps are found consistent with micromagnetic calculations. A complex structure of domain walls serves to compromise a competition between exchange interactions, keeping spins parallel, magnetic anisotropy orienting magnetization normal to the surface, and demagnetizing fields, promoting in-plane magnetization. It is shown that the result of such competition strongly depends on the film thickness, and in the thinner CoCrPt film (10 nm thick), simple Bloch walls separate domains. Their lateral dimensions estimated from neutron scattering experiments agree with micromagnetic simulations.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.90.054425
