Mechanism of localization of the magnetization reversal in 3 nm wide Co nanowires

F. VIDAL; Y. ZHENG; P. SCHIO; F. J. BONILLA; M. BARTUREN; J. MILANO; D. DEMAILLE; E. FONDA; A. J. A. DE OLIVEIRA; V. H. ETGENS

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

AMER PHYSICAL SOC

Lugar: New York; Año: 2012 vol. 109 p. 117205 - 117205

0031-9007

The mechanism of magnetization reversal has been studied in a model system of self-assembledcobalt nanowires with 3 nm diameter. The structure, orientation and size of grains within thenanowires could be determined by high resolution transmission electron microscopy. The magneticproperties were probed using static and dynamic magnetization measurements. Micromagneticmodeling based on the structural analysis allows to correlate the structure and the magnetic be-havior of the wires, revealing competition between shape anisotropy, magnetocrystalline anisotropyand exchange in the localized reversal within Co hcp oriented grains. These results provide di-rect experimental evidence of the link between anisotropy fluctuations and reversal localization innanowires.