Topological defects and misfit strain in magnetic stripe domains of lateral multilayers with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy

Stripe domains are studied in perpendicular magnetic anisotropy films nanostructured with a periodic thickness modulation that induces the lateral modulation of both stripe periods and inplane magnetization. The resulting system is the 2D equivalent of a strained superlattice with properties controlled by interfacial misfit strain within the magnetic stripe structure and shape anisotropy. This allows us to observe, experimentally for the first time, the continuous structural transformation of a grain boundary in this 2D magnetic crystal in the whole angular range. The magnetization reversal process can be tailored through the effect of misfit strain due to the coupling between disclinations in the magnetic stripe pattern and domain walls in the in-plane magnetization configuration

Double percolation effects and fractal behavior in magnetic/superconducting hybrids

Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy ferromagnetic/ superconducting (FM/SC) bilayers with a labyrinth domain structure are used to study nucleation of superconductivity on a fractal network, tunable through magnetic history. As clusters of reversed domains appear in the FM layer, the SC film shows a percolative behavior that depends on two independent processes: the arrangement of initial reversed domains and the fractal geometry of expanding clusters. For a full labyrinth structure, the behavior of the upper critical field is typical of confined superconductivity on a fractal network.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure

Controlled nucleation of topological defects in the stripe domain patterns of Lateral multilayers with Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy: competition between magnetostatic, exchange and misfit interactions

Magnetic lateral multilayers have been fabricated on weak perpendicular magnetic anisotropy amorphous Nd-Co films in order to perform a systematic study on the conditions for controlled nucleation of topological defects within their magnetic stripe domain pattern. A lateral thickness modulation of period $w$ is defined on the nanostructured samples that, in turn, induces a lateral modulation of both magnetic stripe domain periods $\lambda$ and average in-plane magnetization component $M_{inplane}$. Depending on lateral multilayer period and in-plane applied field, thin and thick regions switch independently during in-plane magnetization reversal and domain walls are created within the in-plane magnetization configuration coupled to variable angle grain boundaries and disclinations within the magnetic stripe domain patterns. This process is mainly driven by the competition between rotatable anisotropy (that couples the magnetic stripe pattern to in-plane magnetization) and in-plane shape anisotropy induced by the periodic thickness modulation. However, as the structural period $w$ becomes comparable to magnetic stripe period $\lambda$, the nucleation of topological defects at the interfaces between thin and thick regions is hindered by a size effect and stripe domains in the different thickness regions become strongly coupled.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Physical Review

Tuning interfacial domain walls in GdCo/Gd/GdCo′ spring magnets

Under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0 (CC-BY).-- et al.Spring magnets based on GdCo multilayers have been prepared to study the nucleation and evolution of interfacial domain walls (iDWs) depending on layer composition and interlayer coupling. GdCo alloy compositions in each layer were chosen so that their net magnetization aligns either with the Gd (Gd35Co65) or Co(Gd11Co89) sublattices. This condition forces an antiparallel arrangement of the layers' net magnetization and leads to nucleation of iDWs above critical magnetic fields whose values are dictated by the interplay between Zeeman and exchange energies. By combining x-ray resonant magnetic scattering with Kerr magnetometry, we provide detailed insight into the nucleation and spatial profile of the iDWs. For strong coupling (GdCo/GdCo′ bilayer), iDWs are centered at the interface but with asymmetric width depending on each layer magnetization. When interlayer coupling is weakened by introducing a thin Gd interlayer, the exchange spring effect becomes restricted to a lower temperature and field range than observed in the bilayer structure. Due to the ferromagnetic alignment between the high magnetization Gd35Co65 layer and the Gd interlayer, the iDW shrinks and moves into the lower exchange Gd interlayer, causing a reduction of iDW energy.Work supported by Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) under grant FIS2013-45469 and Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (MICINN) under grant FIS2008-06249. Work at Argonne was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357.Peer Reviewe

Control of magnetic domain wall motion in Co microwires by tridimensional e-beam lithographied structures

Resumen del póster presentado al 6th Spanish Workshop in Nanolithography celebrado en Zaragoza (España) del 28 al 30 de octubre de 2014.Work supported by the Spanish MICINN FIS2008-06249 and CSIC JAE Predoc grants.Peer Reviewe

Coercive and anisotropy fields in patterned amorphous FeSi submicrometric structures

Amorphous FexSi12x films have been prepared on Si substrates in order to fabricate submicrometric magnetic structures with soft magnetic behavior. The magnetic properties compositional dependence of the unpatterned samples has been analyzed to select the Fe content (x50.7) with the lowest coercive and anisotropy fields values. Arrays of Fe0.7Si0.3 lines have been fabricated by electron beam lithography combined with a liftoff technique, with typical dimensions of 200 nm linewidth and 1 mm line spacing. These arrays present coercive fields parallel to the line direction as small as 9 Oe.Peer reviewe

Magnetic order of Cr thin films in Nb/Cr/Fe-nanoisland hybrid: a comparative study between magnetic and superconducting properties

Shifted hysteresis loops characteristic of the exchange bias effect between a ferromagnet and an antiferromagnet are demonstrated in structures formed by a 2.5 nm Cr layer deposited on top of an array of Fe nanoislands (Cr/Fe-nanoislands). This effect evidences the persistence of antiferromagnetic (AF) order for Cr layers much thinner than the thickness reported in the literature. The field shift measured is found to increase for the smallest island sizes, which can be related with the enhancement of the Fe-nanoisland surface to volume ratio. The comparative study between superconducting proximity effects in Nb/Cr/Fe-nanoislands and Nb/normal metal/Fe-nanoisland hybrids (where the normal metals used are Al and Pt) confirms the presence of AF order in the 2.5 nm Cr spacer layer. A much shorter penetration depth of the Cooper pairs into the AF Cr layers than in the normal metal Pt and Al spacer layers is deduced

Robust modeling of human contact networks across different scales and proximity-sensing techniques

The problem of mapping human close-range proximity networks has been tackled using a variety of technical approaches. Wearable electronic devices, in particular, have proven to be particularly successful in a variety of settings relevant for research in social science, complex networks and infectious diseases dynamics. Each device and technology used for proximity sensing (e.g., RFIDs, Bluetooth, low-power radio or infrared communication, etc.) comes with specific biases on the close-range relations it records. Hence it is important to assess which statistical features of the empirical proximity networks are robust across different measurement techniques, and which modeling frameworks generalize well across empirical data. Here we compare time-resolved proximity networks recorded in different experimental settings and show that some important statistical features are robust across all settings considered. The observed universality calls for a simplified modeling approach. We show that one such simple model is indeed able to reproduce the main statistical distributions characterizing the empirical temporal networks

Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in Nd-Co alloy films nanostructured by di-block copolymer templates

et al.Nd-Co amorphous magnetic films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy have been grown on nanostructured templates prepared with self-organized di-block poly(styrene)-block-poly(4-vinylpyridine) copolymer layers with a periodic structure of 60 nm spaced pores. These templates modify both the magnetic film topography and mechanical strain on a local scale. The effect of these structural changes is particularly noticeable in the low thickness range of the magnetic films where the transition from in-plane to out-of plane magnetization takes place. The Nd-Co films grown on the copolymer template present lower perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and, also, stronger stripe domain pinning effects in comparison with reference films grown on flat Si substrates. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.Work supported by Spanish MEC under Grants FIS2008-06249 and Consolider CSD2007-00010 and by CAM under Grant S2009/MAT-1726.Peer Reviewe

Double percolation effects and fractal behavior in magnetic/superconducting hybrids

Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy ferromagnetic/superconducting (FM/SC) bilayers with a labyrinth domain structure are used to study nucleation of superconductivity on a fractal network, tunable through magnetic history. As clusters of reversed domains appear in the FM layer, the SC film shows a percolative behavior that depends on two independent processes: the arrangement of initial reversed domains and the fractal geometry of expanding clusters. For a full labyrinth structure, the behavior of the upper critical field is typical of confined superconductivity on a fractal network