Sunday, February 24, 2013

APS March Meeting 2013 Talk

I will be presenting our XTM and TEM microscopy work on interlayer exchange couple magnetic vortices under an applied field.

Abstract:
We report on the magnetic evolution of magnetic vortices in nanoscale and multilayer disk structures. The tri-layer structure consists of Co and Permalloy (Py) layers, coupled across a thin (1nm) Cu spacer that provides strong coupling between the Co and Py layers. Element-resolved full-field XMCD microscopy is combined with ultra-high resolution Lorentz transmission electron microscopy, permitting measurement of both layer-resolved domain patterns and the vortex structure averaged across the tri-layer. We examine the evolution of the vortex structure while the nanostructure is cycled through the M-H hysteresis loop. In particular we will discuss the effects of strong interlayer exchanged coupling on a dual vortex core system, including analysis of the layer-resolved coercivity, and the evolution, deformation, annihilation, and nucleation of the vortices.

The figure above shows the domain wall phase diagram measured via Lorentz TEM under quasi-static applied fields.