L'objectif de cette thèse est d'étudier l'effet du champ magnétique Oersted sur le mouvement induit par courant de parois de domaines magnetiques dans des nanobandes de bicouches IrPy. Nous avons optimisé la croissance épitaxiale des couches minces IrPy avec faible rugosité de surface et d'interface, peu de défauts structurels et un faible champ coercitif. Cela peut réduire le piégeage de parois et donc augmenter sa mobilité. Nanobandes polycristallins PtPy préparées par pulvérisation ont également été étudiées pour comparer les résultats avec des échantillons épitaxiés. Une première preuve directe de l'effet du champ Oersted sur la configuration magnétique de nanobandes magnétiques a été donnée par V. Uhlir et al. utilisant des mesures XMCD-PEEM résolues en temps. Ils ont observé une grande inclinaison transversale de l'aimantation du Py et CoFeB dans les nanobandes en tricouchesCoCuPy et CoCuCoFeB. Nous avons observé le changement de chiralité des parois transverses sous champ Oersted avec des impulsions de courant en utilisant la microscopie à force magnétique. Un mouvement de parois stochastique a été observé en raison du piégeage, ce qui donne lieu à une large distribution de vitesses de paroi de domaine. Déplacement de paroi opposé au flux d'électrons et transformations de paroi ont également été observés en raison de Joule chauffage. Les grains de grande taille (comparable à la largeur de bande) dans nos couches minces épitaxiales bi-cristallins par rapport aux échantillons polycristallins (~10nm) peut être la source possible du fort piégeage. Néanmoins, des vitesses de parois maximales très élevées (jusqu'à 700 et 250m/s) pour des densités de courant relativement faible (1.7x1012 et 1x1012 A/m2) ont été observées dans échantillons épitaxiales et pulvérisées respectivement. Ces vitesses sont 2 à 5 fois plus élevées avec des densités de courant similaires ou plus faible que celles observées dans des nanobandes de Py seul, rapportés dans la littérature. Le champ Oersted est peut-être à l'origine de la plus grande efficacité du couple de transfert de spin dans ces bandes en bicouche. Des simulations micromagnétiques réalisées dans notre groupe confirment qu'un champ magnétique transverse appliqué en plus d'un champ longitudinal pour déplacemer la paroi peut stabiliser le cœur d'une paroi vortex au centre de la nanobande, supprimant ainsi l'expulsion de cœur au bord de la nanobande et donc empêchant la transformation de parois vortex. De même, il peut stabiliser les parois transverses, empêchant des transformations. Cela peut conduire à une décalage du seuil de Walker vers des courants plus élevés, résultant en une augmentation de la vitesse de paroi. Des mesures XMCD-PEEM résolue en temps seront réalisées dans un avenir proche pour confirmer l'effet du champ Oersted sur le mouvement de la paroi. / The aim of this thesis is to study the effect of the magnetic Oersted field on current-induced domain wall (DW) motion in IrPy bilayer nanostripes. We optimized the epitaxial growth of IrPy films on sapphire (0001) substrates with less structural defects, small surface and interface roughness and small coercive fields. This was expected to reduce the DW pinning and hence increase the DW mobility. Polycrystalline PtPy nanostripes prepared by sputtering were also studied to compare the results with epitaxial samples. A first direct evidence of the effect of the Oersted field on the magnetic configuration of magnetic nanostripes was given by V. Uhlir et al. using time-resolved XMCD-PEEM measurements. They observed a large tilt of the Py and CoFeB magnetization in the direction transverse to the stripes in CoCuPy and CoCuCoFeB trilayer nanostripes. We observed chirality switching of transverse walls induced by the Oersted field due to current pulses using magnetic force microscopy. DW motion was found to be stochastic due to DW pinning, which results in a distribution of velocities. DW motion opposite to the electron flow and DW transformations were also observed due to Joule heating. The large grain size (comparable to the stripe width) in our epitaxial bi-crystalline films with respect to the polycrystalline samples (~10nm) may be a possible source of pinning. Nevertheless, very high maximum DW velocities (up to 700 and 250m/s) for relatively low current densities (1.7 x1012 and 1 x1012 A/m2) were observed in epitaxial and sputtered samples respectively. These velocities are 2 to 5 times higher with similar or even smaller current densities than observed in single layer Py nanostripes, reported in the literature. The Oersted field may be at the origin of the high efficiency of the spin transfer torque in these bilayer stripes. Micromagnetic simulations performed in our group confirm that when a transverse magnetic field is applied in addition to a longitudinal field along the nanostripe for VW motion, the vortex core can be stabilized in the center of nanostripe, suppressing the core expulsion at the nanostripe edge and hence preventing the VW transformation. Similarly, it can stabilize transverse walls, preventing DW transformations. This can result in a shift of the Walker breakdown to higher fields/currents, resulting in an increase in DW velocity. Time-resolved XMCD-PEEM measurements will be performed in the near future to confirm the effect of the Oersted field on the DW motion.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2018-08-22T15:35:41Z No. of bitstreams: 1 evertonluizmartinsdapaixao.pdf: 15592539 bytes, checksum: 3e2c3d43b62b9fa0edea517213c63a12 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2018-09-03T16:33:20Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 evertonluizmartinsdapaixao.pdf: 15592539 bytes, checksum: 3e2c3d43b62b9fa0edea517213c63a12 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-03T16:33:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 evertonluizmartinsdapaixao.pdf: 15592539 bytes, checksum: 3e2c3d43b62b9fa0edea517213c63a12 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-02-26 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Entender e controlar o movimento de parede de domínio em nanofios é extremamente im-portante para o desenvolvimento de novas tecnologias para a aplicação em dispositivos de ar-mazenamento de dados. É conhecido que defeitos como entalhes ("notches") em nanofios são úteis para fixar paredes de domínio. No entanto, a intensidade de potencial de aprisionamento gerado com esse tipo de defeito é muito forte, e para desprender a parede de domínio é ne-cessário aplicar uma densidade de corrente muito elevada. Entretanto, pode-se criar armadilhas para paredes de domínios variando localmente propriedades magnéticas do nanofio, tais como: tais como constante de troca, magnetização de saturação, constante de anisotropia, parâmetro de amortecimento de Gilbert. Definimos essas regiões como impurezas magnéticas por ter propriedades magnéticas diferentes do nanofio. Neste trabalho, realizamos simulações micro-magnéticas para investigar a dinâmica de uma parede de domínio transversal (PDT) aprisionada em um defeito magnético usando pulsos de corrente elétrica polarizada em spin. Afim de criar armadilhas de aprisionamento para a PDT, consideramos um modelo de impureza magnética variando localmente a constante de troca. Ao ajustar o potencial de interação entre impure-zas magnéticas e uma PDT, verificamos que pulsos de corrente de baixa intensidade e de curta duração são capazes de desprender a PDT. Por fim, demonstramos que é possível controlar a posição de uma PDT aplicando pulsos de corrente sequenciais em uma nanofita contendo uma distribuição linear de impurezas magnéticas igualmente espaçadas. / Understand and control the domain wall movement in nanowires is extremely important for the development of new technologies for an application in data storage devices. It is known that defect as notches in nanowires are useful to pinning domain walls. Nevertheless, the pinning potential intensity generated by this type of defect is strong, and for depinning the domain wall it is necessary to apply a high current density. However, it is possible to create traps for domains walls by locally varying magnetic properties of the nanowire, such as: the exchange constant, saturation magnetization, anisotropy constant, Gilbert damping parameters. We define those regions as magnetic impurities once their magnetic properties differ from the nanowire proper-ties. In this study, we realized micromagnetic simulations in order to investigate the dynamics of a transverse domain wall (TDW) trapped in a magnetic defect using electric current pulses of spin-polarized. In order to create traps to TDW pinning, we have modeled the magnetic impurities by varying the exchange constant locally. When we adjusted the interaction poten-tial between the magnetic impurities and the nanowire we showed that low intensity and short duration current pulses are capable of depinning the TDW. At last, we demonstrated that it is possible to control the TDW position applying sequential current pulses in a nanowire planar containing a linear distribution of magnetic impurities equally distributed.

The main focus of this thesis work has been the study of domain wall (DW) dynamics in disordered cylindrical nanomagnets. The study attempts to accurately quantify the stochasticity associated with driven (temperature/magnetic field/spin-torque) DW kinetics. Our results as summarized below, are particularly relevant with regard to the technological advancement of DW based magnetoelectronic devices. 1. Temperature dependent noise measurements showed an exponential increase in noise mag-nitude, which was explained in terms of thermally activated DW depinning within the Neel-Brown framework. The frequency-dependence of noise also indicated a crossover from nondiffusive kinetics to long-range diffusion of DWs at higher temperatures. We also observed strong collective depinning, which must be considered when implementing these nanowires in magnetoelectronic devices. 2. Our noise measurements were sensitive enough to detect not only the stochasticity in DW propagation (diffusive random walk) but also their nucleation in the presence of magnetic field down to a single DW unit inside an isolated single Ni nanowire. Controlled injection and detection of individual DWs is critical in designing DW based memory devices. 3. The spectral slope of noise was observed to be sensitive to DWkinetics that reveals a creep-like behavior of the DWs at the depinning threshold, and diffusive DW motion at higher spin torque drive. Different regimes of DW kinetics were characterized by universal kinetic exponents. Noise measurements also revealed that the critical current density and DW pinning energy can be significantly reduced in a magnetically coupled vertical ensemble of nanowires. This was attributed to strong dipolar interaction between the nanowires. Our results are particularly important in view of recent proposals for low power consumption magnetic storage devices that rely on DW motion. In all our experiments, the critical magnetic field/current density, required to set the DWs in duffusive kinetics, were found to be much smaller than the reported values for nanostrips. This could be attributed to the circular cross section of nanowires, where massless DWs results in the absence of Walker breakdown and hence in zero critical current density. At present the contribution from the non-adiabaticity, which acts as an effective field and can reduce the crit- ical current density, can not be denied. The main di±culty in quantifying the non-adiabatic spin-torque is that not only does it contain contributions due to non-adiabatic transport but also due to spin-relaxation provided by magnetic impurities or the sources for spin-orbit scattering. Fortunately, in cylindrical nanomagnet, non-adiabaticity does not affect the DW motion. There- fore, cylindrical NWs may be promising candidate for future magnetic storage devices. However, a systematic experimental study of DW dynamics in cylindrical nanomagnets is lacking. In chapter 7, silver nanowires (AgNWs) are shown to be stabilized in fcc or hcp crystal structure, depending on the electrochemical growth conditions. The AgNWs stabilized in hcp crystal structure are shown to exhibit exotic structural properties i.e. ultra low noise level, thermally driven unconventional structural phase transformation, and time dependent structural relaxation. Ultra noise level makes hcp AgNWs suitable for application in nanoelectronics and the structural transformation may be exploited for use in smart materials. Though time resolved transmission electron microscopy and noise measurements provide some understanding of the hcp AgNWs formation, the precise growth mechanism is still not clear. Future scope of the work The results in this thesis provide the groundwork for a good understanding of stochastic DW kinetics in isolated as well as ensemble of magnetic nanocylinders. Some extensions to this work that would help expand and strengthen the results, are listed below; 1. In all the nanocylinders used for our experiments the source of stochasticity in DWkinetics were randomly distributed structural defects. For a controlled injection and detection of DWs between the voltage probes, it would be of great importance to fabricate artificial notches (pinning centers) in the NW. These notches can be fabricated either by using nano-indentation or by a focussed ion beam. 2. To investigate whether DWs in different parts of the nanowire exhibit spatio-temporal correlation, a simultaneous detection of DWkinetics (through noise measurement) between different volage probes needs to be done. If the propagation time of DWs scales with the distance between the voltage probes, we can be confident of our velocity measurement. Then, by recording the DWvelocity as function of eld/current for nanowire (or nanostrip) absence (or presence) of the Walker breakdown can be probed. This would be a significant result for future spintronic devices. With an accurate determination of velocity even non- adiabaticity parameter may be calculated and one can see its effect on DW dynamics. 3. A complete understanding of sustained avalanches at finite magnetic fields, characterized by a high spectral exponent (a>¸ 2:5) in an ensemble of nanowires is still lacking. Per- forming a controlled experiment on a single nanowire, by varying the number of nanowires in the alumina matrix, one can study the chaotic dynamics of DWs in the ensemble in very accurate manner. All the experiments on AgNWs were performed on ensembles. The large change in a as well as noise magnitude in hcp AgNWs could arise from stress relaxation due to the presence of an insulating matrix or structural relaxation, determined by the nanowire growth kinetics. To resolve this issue, time and temperature dependent noise measurements should be performed on single nanowire stabilized in both hcp and fcc crystal structure.

Předkládaná dizertační práce pojednává o problematice pohybu doménových stěn (DS) vyvolaného spinově polarizovaným proudem v magnetických nanodrátech na bázi spinového ventilu NiFe/Cu/Co. Jedná se o tzv. efekt přenosu spinového momentu. Multivrstevnatý systém NiFe/Cu/Co, kde se doménová stěna pohybuje ve vrstvě NiFe, vykazuje velmi vysokou účinnost přenosu spinového momentu, což bylo v literatuře potvrzeno na základě magnetotransportních měření. Tato práce má za cíl pozorovat stav DS během jejich pohybu, pomocí fotoelektronové mikroskopie kombinované s kruhovým magnetickým dichroismem. Tato technika využívá synchrotronové záření, které svým časovým rozlišením umožňuje sledovat dynamickou odezvu magnetizace na elektrický proud. Podstatnou částí řešení byla optimizace růstu vrstev NiFe/Cu/Co kvůli snížení magnetické dipolární interakce mezi vrstvami. V práci je také řešen způsob přípravy nanodrátů litografickými metodami. Byly provedeny dva módy měření: i) kvazistatický, tj. pozorování DS před a po injekci proudu do nanodrátu a ii) dynamické měření, kde je DS sledována během působení proudového pulzu. S využitím kvazistatickém módu byla vypracována rozsáhlá statistika pohybu DS: i) byly naměřeny jejich vysoké rychlosti přesahující 600 m/s za působení průměrné proudové hustoty nutné k posuvu doménové stěny - 5x10^11 A/m^2; ii) DS jsou v systému NiFe/Cu/Co velmi silně zachycovány dipolární interakcí mezi NiFe a Co způsobenou nehomogenitou krystalové struktury ve vrstvě Co. V dynamickém módu bylo odhaleno, že působením Oerstedovského pole kolmého na nanodráty v rovině vzorku se magnetizace ve vrstvě NiFe silně natáčí. Tento efekt přispívá k vysokým rychlostem DS pozorovaných v nanodrátech NiFe/Cu/Co.

Neuromorphic computing applications could be made faster and more power efficient by emulating the function of a biological synapse. Non-conventional spintronic devices have been proposed that demonstrate synaptic behavior through domain wall (DW) driving. In this work, current induced domain wall motion has been studied through micromagnetic simulations. We investigate the synaptic behavior of a head to head domain wall driven by a spin polarized current in permalloy (Py) nanostrips with shape anisotropy, where triangular notches have been modeled to account for edge roughness and provide pinning sites for the domain wall. We seek optimal material parameters to keep the critical current density for driving the domain wall at order 1011 A/m2.

This thesis presents gauge fixed gluonic observable and neutral Kaon mixing matrix element measurements using nf=2+1 Domain Wall Fermion (DWF) configurations. These were generated with the Iwasaki gauge action by the RBC and UKQCD collaborations. Results from the first measurement of the QCD strong coupling with these ensembles using the triple gluon vertex are shown. We find that while a very accurate measurement of the coupling is possible using this technique, the systematic error from the perturbative matching at current lattice scales is large. We also discuss the utilisation of this method as a probe for possible Technicolor theories. The calculation of the QCD strong coupling constant from the triple gluon vertex required an implementation of a fast code to fix lattice gauge configurations. I provide details on my implementation of a parallel and optimised Fourier-accelerated algorithm for both Landau and Coulomb gauge fixing. I include the first calculation of the highly accurate W0-scale using these ensembles, allowing for percent-level scale setting. I show results from a wide variety of smearing methods and present the first gluonic measurement of different smearing radii. This thesis also details the first nf=2+1 measurement of the BSM neutral Kaon mixing renormalised matrix elements from lattice simulations with almost exact chiral symmetry in the valence sector and the sea.

La manipulation de parois de domaine magnétique – qui séparent des régions d’aimantation uniforme dans les matériaux – est associée à des enjeux à la fois fondamentaux et technologiques. De nombreux travaux portent sur l’utilisation de champs magnétiques et de courants électriques pour leur déplacement. Cependant, des préoccupations particulières – notamment la dissipation d’énergie - motivent la recherche d’alternatives. Parmi les solutions potentielles, le couplage magnétoélectrique par l’intermédiaire de contraintes mécaniques dans des hétérostructures magnétoélastique/piézoélectrique paraît prometteur. Dans cette thèse, il est montré que l’association d’un champ magnétique de biais et de contraintes mécaniques uniformes peut engendrer le déplacement unidirectionnel d’une paroi de domaine transverse dans des nanostructures à anisotropie uniaxiale. Les considérations statiques et dynamiques de ce phénomène sont étudiées par le biais de procédures numériques ad hoc simulant le couplage mécanique entre substrat de PMN-PT de coupe 011 générant des contraintes, et nanostructures multicouches magnétoélastiques TbCo2/FeCo. Le design du profil de section des nanostructures permet de moduler la réponse du système, par exemple pour contrôler la position de parois confinées. La dynamique du système se distingue des régimes habituels de par la forme de la paroi de domaine. L’atteinte de régimes permanents dans des nanorubans montre que des vitesses comparables aux autres techniques sont obtenues, pour une dissipation d’énergie beaucoup plus faible. Des travaux expérimentaux ont permis de mettre au point un process de fabrication sur PMN-PT et d’explorer l’effet magnétoélectrique / The manipulation of magnetic domain walls – that separate regions of uniform magnetization – is associated with both fundamental and technological research interests. A large part of the literature on domain wall motion deals with the use of magnetic fields and electric currents. However, several concerns – most notably energy dissipation – motivates the search for alternatives. Among potential candidates, the mechanical stress-mediated magnetoelectric coupling in magnetoelastic/piezoelectric heterostructures seems promising. In this thesis, it is shown that the combination of a bias magnetic field and uniform mechanical stress can induce unidirectional domain wall motion in nanostructures with uniaxial anisotropy. Static and dynamic aspects of this phenomenon are studied by means of ad hoc numerical procedures simulating the mechanical coupling of 011-cut PMN-PT generating the stress, and TbCo2/FeCo multilayers magnetoelastic nanostructures. The design of the cross section profile in nanostructures allows to tailor the response of the system, enabling for instance the control of domain wall position in confined geometries. The associated dynamics stands apart from known regimes because of the shape of the domain wall. The existence of steady-state regimes in nanostripes of constant width shows that velocities comparable to those of other techniques can be obtained, for a fraction of the energy required. Experimental investigations resulted in the development of a successful fabrication process on PMN-PT and the exploration of the magnetoelectric effect

The concept of Berry phase, since its proposition in 1984, has found numerous applications and appears in almost every branch of physics today. In this work, we study several physical effects in ferromagnetic metal materials which are manifestations of the Berry phase. We first show that when a domain wall in a ferromagnetic nanowire is undergoing precessional motion, it pumps an electromotive force which follows a universal Josephson-type relation. We discover that the integral of the electromotive force over one pumping cycle is a quantized topological invariant equal to integer multiples of h/e, which does not depend on the domain wall geometry nor its detailed dynamic evolution. In particular, when a domain wall in a nanowire is driven by a constant magnetic field, we predict that the generated electromotive force is proportional to the applied field with a simple coefficient consisting of only fundamental constants. Our theoretical prediction has been successfully confirmed by experiments. Similar effect known as spin pumping occurs in magnetic multilayer heterostructures, where a precessing free magnetic layer pumps a spin current into its adjacent normal metal layers. Based on this effect, we propose two magnetic nanodevices that can be useful in future spintronics applications: the magnetic Josephson junction and the magneto-dynamic battery. The magnetic Josephson junction has a drastic increase in resistance when the applied current exceeds a critical value determined by the magnetic anisotropy. The magneto-dynamic battery acts as a conventional charge battery in a circuit with well-defined electromotive force and internal resistance. We investigate the condition under which the power output and efficiency of the battery can be optimized. Finally we study the side jump contribution in the anomalous Hall effect of a uniformly magnetized ferromagnetic metal. The side jump contribution, although arises from disorder scattering, was believed to be independent of both the scattering strength and the disorder density. Nevertheless, we find that it has a sensitive dependence on the spin structure of the disorder potential. We therefore propose a classification scheme of disorder scattering according to their spin structures. When two or more classes of disorders are present, the value of side jump is no longer fixed but depends on the relative disorder strength between classes. Due to this competition, the side jump contribution could flow from one class dominated limit to another class dominated limit when certain system control parameter changes. Our result indicates that the magnon scattering plays a role distinct from the normal impurity scattering and the phonon scattering in the anomalous Hall effect, because they belong to different scattering classes. / text

Mesoscopic effects in ferromagnets could be different from mesoscopic effects in normal metals. While normal metals with a short mean-free-path do not exhibit classical magnetoresistance, weakly disordered ferromagnets with a similar mean-free-path display magnetoresistance including domain wall resistance (DWR) and anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR). Magnetoresistance could lead to novel mesoscopic effects because the wave function phase depends on the scattering potential. In this thesis, we present our measurements of mesoscopic resistance fluctuations in cobalt nanoparticles and study how the fluctuations with bias voltage, bias fingerprints, respond to magnetization-reversal processes. The resistance has been found to be very sensitive to the magnetic state of the sample. In particular, we observe significant wave-function phase shifts generated by domain walls, and it is explained by mistracking effect, where electron spins lag in orientation with respect to the moments inside the domain wall. Short dephasing length and dephasing time are found in our Co nanoparticles, which we attribute to the strong magnetocrystalline anisotropy.

Dans les dispositifs actuels de sauvegarde de données, les bits d'informations sont stockées sous la forme de paroi de domaines dans une couche mince, voire des media "patternés". Le support reste donc 2D. De nos jours, la densité de stockage tend vers une valeur maximale qu'il est difficile de dépasser pour des raisons fondamentales et technologiques. Ainsi, récemment des efforts ont été réalisés pour développer des dispositifs 3D qui allient la polyvalence de la mémoire RAM solide avec un coût comparable à celui des disques durs actuels.Un nouveau concept théorique particulièrement intéressant pour une mémoire magnétique en 3D a été proposé en 2004 par S. Parkin et al.. Cette mémoire de type registre à décalage est constituée d'un réseau de nanofils magnétiques verticaux avec une section transversale cylindrique ou bien rectangulaire. Dans ce nouveau type de mémoire, les bits sont codés sous forme d'une série de parois de domaine. Cette dernière peut être déplacée vers une tête de lecture intégrée par des impulsions de courant polarisé en spin de quelques nanosecondes.Les parois de domaines magnétiques dans des nanofils cylindriques ont suscité l'intérêt de la communauté scientifique en raison de leur application possible dans un dispositif fonctionnel ainsi qu'en raison de nouvelles propriétés intéressantes qui résultent du confinement géométrique des parois. A ce jour, seules quelques études expérimentales sur de telles parois de domaines existent. Elles ont mis en évidence la difficulté de maîtriser la propagation de parois dues à des forts effets de piégeage. Jusqu'à présent, l'origine microscopique de ce piégeage n'a été que partiellement comprise. On s'attend à ce qu’indépendamment de la qualité géométrique du fil, la microstructure du matériau puisse jouer un rôle non négligeable.Dans le cadre du projet européen FP7 m3D, l'objectif de mon travail de thèse a été d'étudier la propagation des parois de domaine dans des nanofils cylindriques avec des modulations de diamètre. L'énergie de ces parois de domaine augmentant avec le diamètre du fil, on s'attend à ce que des excroissances (ou des constrictions) agissent comme des barrières d'énergie artificielles (respectivement puits). Par conséquent, une propagation de paroi de domaine contrôlée via la géométrie du fil semble possible.La première partie de mon travail concerne l'optimisation des matériaux. Des fils d'un alliage de NiCo (diamètre de 100-200nm et longueur de plusieurs dizaines de micromètres) avec deux géométries distinctes ont été fabriqués par électrodéposition en collaboration avec le groupe du Prof. J. Bachmann à l' Université d'Erlangen. Pour chaque géométrie, j'ai exploré l'effet de la composition de l'alliage ainsi que d'un recuit sur la microstructure du matériau. Par la suite, la propagation des parois de domaine dans des nanofils individuels a été étudiée sous l'influence d'un champ magnétique quasi-statique ou d'une impulsion de champ magnétique avec une durée d'impulsion de l'ordre de la nanoseconde. Dans la dernière partie de ma thèse, j'ai effectué des simulations micromagnétiques complémentaires pour étudier l'effet de la géométrie des modulations sur le piégeage de ces parois de domaine magnétiques. / In all current data storage devices, the information bits are stored in form of domain walls in a thin film or in patterned media on a two-dimensional surface . Within the next decade, further increase of the storage density in these devices is expected to come to a halt due to several fundamental and technological issues. Thus there have recently been efforts to develop three-dimensional devices combining the versatility of solid state RAM with the cost efficiency of common hard disk drives.A particularly interesting theoretical concept for a three-dimensional magnetic memory has been proposed in 2004 by S. Parkin et al. . Their racetrack memory consists of a vertical array of magnetic nanowires with either cylindrical or rectangular cross section. The bits are encoded in a series of up to 100 domain walls per wire. Using nanosecond spin polarized current pulses these walls are shifted past an integrated read head.Magnetic domain walls in cylindrical nanowires have raised the interest of the scientific community due to their possible application in a functional device as well as due to exciting new properties which arise from the geometric confinement. Up to date, only a few pioneering experimental studies on such domain walls exist. They indicate strong pinning effects preventing a deterministic domain wall propagation. So far the microscopic origin of this pinning has only partially been understood. It is expected however that beside the wire geometry the material microstructure may play a considerable role.Situated within the framework of the European FP 7 project m3D, the objective of my work has been to investigate the domain wall propagation in cylindrical nanowires with diameter modulations by means of magnetic force microscopy and micromagnetic simulation. As the domain wall energy increases with the wire diameter, protrusions (resp. notches) are expected to act as an artificial energy barrier (resp. well). Consequently, a deterministic domain wall propagation controlled via the wire geometry seems possible.A first part of my work concerns material optimization. For this, NiCo alloy wires (100-200nm diameter and multiple tens of micrometers in length) with two distinct geometries have been fabricated by template assisted electrodeposition (Chemist collaborators at Univ. Erlangen, Prof. J.Bachmann). I have then explored the impact of the alloy composition as well as of possible post-fabrication annealing on the material microstructure. Subsequently, domain wall propagation in individual nanowires has been investigated under the influence of either a quasistatic magnetic field or a nanosecond magnetic field pulse. In addition I have performed complementary micromagnetic simulations to study the effect of the modulation geometry on the domain wall pinning.