Ni80Fe20 and Ni80Fe20/NiO films and nano-stripes were characterized magnetically through AC and DC susceptibility measurements, and hysteresis loops as a function of field and temperature. While the near-pattern films were characterized in the in-plane configuration only, the nano-stripes were characterized in parallel, transverse and the perpendicular field configurations. The effects of the constrained geometry on the coercivity, exchange bias field, and the superparamagnetic blocking temperature were studied. It was determined that the coercivity, exchange bias field and the superparamagnetic blocking temperature can be controlled, not only by using a patterned media instead of a plane film, but also by the orientation of that pattern.

Ni80Fe20 and Ni80Fe20/NiO films and nano-stripes were characterized magnetically through AC and DC susceptibility measurements, and hysteresis loops as a function of field and temperature. While the near-pattern films were characterized in the in-plane configuration only, the nano-stripes were characterized in parallel, transverse and the perpendicular field configurations. The effects of the constrained geometry on the coercivity, exchange bias field, and the superparamagnetic blocking temperature were studied. It was determined that the coercivity, exchange bias field and the superparamagnetic blocking temperature can be controlled, not only by using a patterned media instead of a plane film, but also by the orientation of that pattern.

The concept of percolated perpendicular media (PPM) for magnetic data storage is expected to surpass the areal storage density of 1 Tbit in -², which is regarded as the fundamental limit of conventional granular CoCrPt:oxide based recording media. PPM consist of a continuous ferromagnetic thin film with densely distributed defects acting as pinning sites for magnetic domain walls. In this study, practical realizations of PPM were fabricated by the deposition of [Co/Pt]8 multilayers with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy onto nanoperforated templates with various perforation diameters and periods. The structural defects given by the templates serve as pinning sites for the magnetic domain walls within the [Co/Pt]8 multilayers. Magnetometry at both the integral and the local level was employed to investigate the influence of the template on the magnetization reversal and the domain wall pinning. It was found, that magnetic domains can be pinned at the ultimate limit, between three adjacent pinning sites. The coercivity and the depinning field, which both are a measure for the strength of the magnetic domain wall pinning, were found to increase with increasing perforation diameter. The size of magnetic domains within the magnetic film appeared not to depend solely on the diameter of the nanoperforations or on the period of the template, but on the ration between diameter and period. By means of micromagnetic simulations it was found, that the presence of ferromagnetic material within the pinning site given supports the pinning of magnetic domain walls, compared to a pinning site that is solely given by a hole in the magnetic thin film. Investigation of the evolution of the magnetization in magnetic fields smaller than the coercive field revealed, that the energy barrier against thermally induced magnetization reversal is sufficiently large to provide long-term (> 10 years) stability of an arbitrary magnetization state. This could also be qualitatively supported by micromagnetic simulations. Static read/write tests with conventional hard disk recording heads revealed the possibility of imprinting bit patterns into the PPM under study. The minimum bit pitch that could be read back thereby depended on the period of the nanoperforated template.

Magnetic thin films and patterned nanostructures have been studied with respect to their magnetic properties using SQUID-magnetometry, magnetic force microscopy, electrical measurements, and micromagnetic calculations. Properties of vortex domain walls, trapped in Permalloy nanowires with artificial constrictions, were investigated experimentally and by numerical calculations. In particular, the geometrical extent and strength of the pinning potential were evaluated. In these wires, long-range vortex domain wall displacement induced by spin polarized alternating currents was obtained numerically at reduced threshold current densities as compared with the direct current case. Due to the asymmetry of the energy potential, the long-range displacement direction is determined by the vortex chirality. Strained FeCo/Pt superlattices with strong perpendicular anisotropy were investigated experimentally. The strain was controlled by varying the thickness of each alternating layer with monolayer precision and was found to have a dominating effect on the total anisotropy. Epitaxial films of the diluted magnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As were studied with focus on how the ferromagnetic transition temperature could be controlled by post-growth annealing. The ferromagnetic transition temperature was enhanced by approximately 85% for a Mn-doping concentration of 6% under certain conditions. A method to manipulate micrometer sized magnetic particles on patterned arrays of elliptical Permalloy microstructures was studied. Controlled motion and separation of the magnetic particles were obtained using applied rotating magnetic fields. The domain structure of the elliptical elements was studied numerically.

La dynamique des parois de domaine magnétiques (DW) soulève actuellement un très fort intérêt à la fois du point de vue fondamental mais aussi en lien avec ses applications dans des dispositifs logique et mémoire. Des dispositifs nouveaux basés sur les DW ont déjà été proposés, par exemple présentant des très fortes densités de stockage et des taux de transfert élevés pour un remplacement des disques durs. De plus dans les Mémoires Magnétiques à Accès Aléatoire (MRAM), identifiées comme l'une des solutions les plus prometteuses pour le remplacement des DRAM et SRAM, le retournement de l'aimantation implique une propagation des DW. Le contrôle de la dynamique des DW sous courant est longtemps resté un challenge, principalement à cause d'imperfections dans les matériaux utilisés. Des déplacements rapides et contrôlé des DW au moyen d'un courant ont été reportés il y a quelques années seulement dans des multicouches présentant une asymétrie d'inversion (SIA). Plus récemment un mécanisme a été proposé basé sur la présence de couple de spin orbite (SOT) et de l'interaction Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DMI), tout deux trouvant leur origine dans l'interaction spin-orbite et nécessitant une SIA.Mon objectif initial était de tester ce modèle dans deux systèmes présentant différents SIA. Dans des multicouches Pt/Co/Pt à faible SIA, j'ai étudié la propagation des DW sous courant et sous champ et j'ai mis en évidence l'existence d'un amortissement chiral. Ce phénomène nouveau, pendant de DMI pour les mécanismes dissipatifs, influence à la fois la dynamique sous courant et sous champ et doit être pris en compte pour avoir une description complète des mécanismes. Dans des multicouches Pt/Co/AlOx à fort SIA, j'ai étudié de nouvelles géométries pour lesquelles le mouvement de la paroi de domaine et la direction du courant ne sont pas colinéaires. J'ai mis en évidence un déplacement asymétrique des DW en fonction de cette non-colinéarité qui ne peut pas être expliquée avec un modèle simple DMI+SOT. En se basant sur ces résultats expérimentaux, j'ai introduit un nouveau concept de dispositifs, appelé « origami magnétique » : la forme du dispositif gouverne le mécanisme de retournement. Ce concept apporte une grande flexibilité dans la construction de mémoires magnétiques non volatiles, rapides et peu gourmandes en énergie : des fonctionnalités différentes peuvent être obtenues sur un même wafer simplement par la maîtrise de la forme des différents éléments. Je montre la preuve de concept de deux dispositifs. / Magnetic domain wall (DW) dynamics is currently attracting tremendous interest both from a fundamental point of view as well as in relation with emerging magnetic memory and logic devices. New DW-based devices were recently proposed, for example to replace hard drive disks with higher density and faster date transfer. Moreover, in Magnetic Random Access Memory (MRAM), identified as one of the most promising candidate for DRAM and SRAM replacement, switching occurs through DW propagation. Control of current induced DW dynamics has long been a challenge mainly due to material imperfections. Only some years ago, fast and controllable motions were reported in multilayers presenting structural inversion asymmetry (SIA). More recently, a mechanism was proposed based on the presence of spin orbit torques and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI), both phenomena originating from the spin orbit interaction and needing (SIA).My initial objective was to test this model in two systems presenting different SIA. In Pt/Co/Pt multilayers with weak SIA, I studied both current and field induced DW motion and evidenced a chiral damping. This new phenomena, counterpart of the DMI for the dissipative aspects, influences both current and field induced dynamics and has to be taken into account for a complete picture of the mechanism. In Pt/Co/AlOx multilayers with strong SIA, I studied new geometries where the DW motion the and current flow are not collinear. I evidenced asymmetric DW motion as a function of this non-collinearity that cannot be explained with a simple SOT+DMI model. Based on these experimental results I introduce a new device concept named “magnetic origami”: the shape of the device governs the switching mechanism. This concept provides large flexibility to construct fast, low power non-volatile magnetic memory: different functionalities can be achieved on a wafer by simply mastering the shape of the different elements. I show the proof of concept of two such devices.

Magnetic nanorings are the object of increasing scientific interest because they possess the vortex (stray field free) state which ensures lower magnetostatic interactions between adjacent ring elements in high packing density memory devices. In addition, they have other potential applications such as single magnetic nanoparticle sensors, microwave-frequency oscillators and data processing. The stabilization of magnetization state, types of domains and domain wall structures depends on the competing energies such as magnetostatic, exchange and anisotropy. The nucleation/ pinning of domain walls depends on the local inhomogeneity in shape such as roughness, notches etc, which play an important role in stabilizing domain configurations that can be controlled by magnetic field/spin polarized current etc. The information gained by the study of magnetization reversal in the nanoring devices could help in understanding the possible stable magnetization states, which can be incorporated into the development of magnetic logic and recording devices in a NR-based architecture. The magnetization reversal and the stable states in the symmetric cobalt nanorings (NRs) attached with nanowires (NWs) (at diametrically opposite points), is studied through magnetoresistance (MR) measurements by application of in-plane magnetic field (H). Here, a strong in-plane shape anisotropy is introduced in cobalt thin films by patterning them into NR and NWs. The presence or absence of a DW in the device is detected utilizing the AMR property of the material, where the presence of DW leads to a decrease in the resistance of the probed section of the device. It is demonstrated that the magnetization reversal of the device with smaller width, proceeds through four distinct magnetization states, one of these is the stabilized vortex state that persists over a field range of 0.730 kOe. The effect of width (from 70 nm to 1 µm) and diameter (from 2 µm to 6 µm) on the switching behavior is demonstrated. The magnetization states observed in the MR measurements are well supported by micromagnetic simulations. A statistical analysis of switching fields in these devices was demonstrated by histogram plot (of switching counts) to understand the repeatability and reproducibility of switching characteristics. In addition, the magnetization reversal of permalloy NR is also studied by MR experiment when two NWs are attached to it in two different configurations. It has been demonstrated that a vortex state can be stabilized if the NWs are attached in a way that they are at an obtuse angle with respect to each other (type-II device) which is not the case if the NWs are attached at diametrically opposite points (type-I device). This occurs because the NWs reverse at different fields as they are asymmetric with respect to applied magnetic field at every angle. The angular dependence study of the magnetization states indicates that the vortex state could be always stabilized in the type-II device irrespective of the direction of in-plane applied magnetic field while it is not the case in type-I device. The experimental observations are in good agreement with micromagnetic simulations performed on similar device structures. Further, in the last part of the thesis, the magnetization reversal of geometrically engineered cobalt NR (of width 80 nm) devices are studied by application of H. Two types of cobalt nanoring devices were fabricated. In type-1 devices the NR is attached with two nanowires (NWs) at diametrically opposite positions. In type-2 devices the NR is attached with one NW, whose other end is attached to a 5 µm x 5 µm square pad. In type-2 device, the pad reverses first, thus causing the generation of a DW at the junction of the nucleation pad and the NW. The device type-2 possesses five distinct magnetization states, one of these is the vortex state. Easy nucleation of domain walls (DWs) results in a decrease of switching field corresponding to the reversal of the nanowire. This leads to an increase in the range of fields, where the vortex state exists. In addition, angular dependence of the switching behavior indicates that the vortex state can be stabilized at all in-plane orientations of H. This occurs because of the fact that symmetry was broken due to the presence of single domain wall pinning center which was the junction of the NR and NW. The results of our micromagnetic simulations are in a good agreement with the experimental results. These results are important to understand the role of NWs which allows the formation of vortex state at every angle of the in-plane H. In type-1 device, the simulation shows that when the field is applied at any angle away from the axis of the NW, the vortex state cannot be stabilized. The width dependent study of switching fields indicates, that the switching fields decrease with increasing the width of NR devices due to a reduction of the demagnetization field.

Para o desenvolvimento da nanociência atual há forte demanda por equipamentos capazes de caracterizar sistemas em escalas da ordem nanométrica. Este contexto impulsionou o desenvolvimento de microscópios ópticos de varredura em campopróximo (Scanning Near-field Optical Microscope SNOM). Diferentemente da microscopia óptica tradicional, os SNOMs detectam a radiação eletromagnética evanescente e, conseqüentemente, a resolução não é limitada pelo critério de Rayleigh. No Laboratório de Materiais Magnéticos IFUSP desenvolvemos um SNOM sensível a efeitos Kerr magnetoópticos (MO-SNOM). Dessa maneira, associamos a alta resolução da técnica à alta sensibilidade dos efeitos magnetoópticos. Trata-se se uma área relativamente pouco explorada e carente de resultados sistemáticos na literatura. Utilizando o MO-SNOM, caracterizamos partículas microestruturadas de Co70.4Fe4.6Si15B10 amorfo com dimensões de 16x16x0.08 microm3 e 4x4x0.08 microm3. Os resultados compreendem dezenas de imagens de susceptibilidade magnetoóptica diferencial com resolução melhor que 200 nm e curvas de histerese local. Em primeira análise, a demonstração de resultados sistemáticos ajuda a estabelecer a técnica. O comportamento magnético das partículas, estudadas sob várias condições de campo aplicado, se mostrou determinado basicamente pela anisotropia de forma. As curvas de histerese local mostraram comportamentos intrinsecamente locais e motivaram uma interessante discussão sobre os parâmetros de caracterização magnética convencionais. As medidas realizadas indicam que o efeito Kerr magnetoótico transversal em campopróximo é similar ao campo-distante. Os resultados são fortemente sustentados por medidas de microscopia magnetoóptica de campo-distante, simulações micromagnéticas e medidas de microscopia de força magnética. Medidas complementares revelam o potencial do MO-SNOM para caracterizações de objetos extensos quanto a potenciais de pinning. Além disso, medidas em filmes finos de NiFe/FeMn acoplados por exchange-bias evidenciam a alta sensibilidade do MO-SNOM, estimada de DM ~ 2 x 10-12 emu. / To support nanosciences evolution, there is a strong demand for developing new instrumentation devoted to nano-scale characterization. In this context, the development of the Scanning Near-field Optical Microscope (SNOM) took place. In contrast to traditional optical microscopes, SNOM deals with evanescent electromagnetic radiation and, consequently, the resolution is no longer limited by the Rayleigh criterion. At Laboratório de Materiais Magnéticos (LMM) IFUSP a SNOM devoted to magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements (MO-SNOM) has been developed. The MOSNOM associates the high resolution of the near-field technique to the high sensibility of the magneto-optical Kerr effect. Near-field magneto-optical microscopy is not yet wellestablished and there is a lack of systematic results in the literature. Using the MO-SNOM, amorphous Co70.4Fe4.6Si15B10 particles with 16x16x0.08 microm3 and 4x4x0.08 microm3 dimensions were studied. With resolution better than 200 nm, several magneto-optical differential susceptibility images and local hysteresis loops were obtained. The systematic results uphold the establishment of this new technique. Under the different applied field conditions, the magnetic behavior of the particles was found to be determined by shape anisotropy. Local hysteresis loops presented shapes intrinsic of local field induced process. The unusual hystesesis loops motivated interesting discussion about the conventional magnetic parameters. The MO-SNOM measurements indicate that the near-field transverse magneto-optical Kerr effect is similar to the far-field case. The results are highly supported by far-field magneto-optical microscopy, micromagnetic simulations and magnetic force microscopy measurements. Complementary measurements indicate the MO-SNOM potential to extensive magnetic surface characterization related to pinning potential distribution. Furthermore, measurements on the exchange-bias coupled NiFe/FeMn thin films make evident the MO-SNOM high sensitivity, estimated to be DeltaM ~ 2 x 10-12 emu.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2017-06-08T19:22:26Z No. of bitstreams: 1 danilotoscano.pdf: 27568683 bytes, checksum: f844e19659c551e6e7a4e5b53adf1497 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2017-06-26T20:13:05Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 danilotoscano.pdf: 27568683 bytes, checksum: f844e19659c551e6e7a4e5b53adf1497 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-26T20:13:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 danilotoscano.pdf: 27568683 bytes, checksum: f844e19659c551e6e7a4e5b53adf1497 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-25 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Durante as últimas décadas a dinâmica da magnetização em sistemas nano-estruturados tornou-se um assunto de importância fundamental não apenas para o Micromagnetismo, mas também às suas aplicações tecnológicas. Nanomagnetos são sistemas interessantes para estudar estruturas magnéticas exóticas, tais como vórtices, skyrmions e paredes de domínio. A compreensão das propriedades estáticas e dinâmicas dessas configurações de spins em nano-escala é um requerimento crucial para a realização de futuros dispositivos baseados em spintrônica. Devido à anisotropia de forma que se origina da interação dipolar, as configurações magnéticas que surgem em sistemas nano-estruturados são bastante sensíveis à forma geométrica e às dimensões do nanomagneto. Este trabalho é focado no estudo de nanomagnetos planares, nos formatos de disco e fita, feitos com um material magnético macio como o Permalloy. O vórtice magnético é observado num nanodisco com dimensões adequadas, porque ele é um estado intermediário entre os regimes de mono e multi-domínio. Sob condições apropriadas, uma única parede de domínio transversal pode ser experimentalmente injetada num nanofio retangular. Tanto o núcleo do vórtice quanto a parede de domínio comportam-se como quasipartículas, cujas propriedades podem ser manipuladas por um agente externo (campo magnético ou corrente de spin-polarizado). Para pequenas amplitudes de excitação, é sabido que o núcleo do vórtice descreve um movimento circular (modo girotrópico), enquanto que a parede de domínio transversal fica restrita a um movimento unidimensional. Neste regime, cada quasipartícula evolui sem mudar a sua polaridade; uma propriedade estrutural associada a um estado duplamente degenerado. Para uma amplitude de excitação forte o suficiente, a quasipartícula sofre uma deformação na sua estrutura, tal que a ocorre a inversão da polaridade. Do ponto de vista tecnológico, o controle do mecanismo de reversão da polaridade é fundamental, porque essa degenerescência de dois estados pode funcionar como "zero"ou "um", sendo útil para codificar informação no armazenamento de dados ou mesmo para realizar operações lógicas. Alguns trabalhos reportaram que nanomagnetos contendo defeitos podem influenciar ou modificar fortemente a dinâmica da quasipartícula. Imperfeições são geradas durante o processo de fabricação dos nanomagnetos, ou então elas podem ser intencionalmente incorporadas para uma finalidade específica. Como exemplo, a fim de controlar o movimento da parede de domínio é muito importante impor determinadas posições ao longo do nanofio onde a parede possa parar. Há várias maneiras de se estabelecer tais pontos críticos para a quasipartícula. Variações na geometria do nanomagneto, cavidades, entalhes e assim por diante podem ser classificadas como defeitos não-magnéticos. Em geral, esse tipo de defeito funciona como um centro atrator para a quasipartícula. Um defeito magnético surge a partir de uma falta de homogeneidade do meio magnético, ou seja, uma variação local das propriedades magnéticas. Num trabalho anterior, nosso grupo modelou uma impureza magnética como uma variação local da constante de troca. Como um resultado imediato da inserção de uma impureza magnética no nanomagneto, demonstramos via simulações numéricas, que impurezas magnéticas podem induzir dois tipos de armadilhas para a quasipartícula: uma redução local da constante de troca corresponde a um sítio de aprisionamento (poço de potencial), enquanto que um aumento local da constante de troca representa um sítio de bloqueio (barreira de potencial). Esta tese investiga a dinâmica da quasipartícula confinada por uma distribuição de impurezas magnéticas: para o caso do núcleo do vórtice considerou-se um anel de impurezas, concêntrico ao nanodisco; para o caso da parede de domínio foi considerado dois aglomerados de impurezas, idênticos e equidistantes do eixo da largura do nanofio. Os resultados obtidos para o nanodisco modificado mostraram que é possível modular a frequência girotrópica do núcleo do vórtice, que depende fortemente da razão de aspecto do disco (espessura/diâmetro). Num disco com o anel de impurezas, um ajuste fino na frequência girotrópica pode ser obtido pela variação dos parâmetros do anel. Além disso, foi observado que a inversão da polaridade do núcleo do vórtice pode ocorrer devido à interação entre o núcleo do vórtice com o anel; a reversão da polaridade num disco com o anel requer amplitudes de excitação menores do que aquelas requeridas no disco sem o anel. Os resultados obtidos para o nanofio modificado indicaram que é possível controlar posição da parede de domínio transversal; a parede pode ser de movida de um aglomerado até o outro pela simples inversão do sentido do campo magnético aplicado. A reversão da polaridade da parede de domínio transversal também foi investigada e o uso dessa distribuição de impurezas mostrou-se útil para estabilizar o movimento da parede que ocorre após a inversão da polaridade; assim a mudança da polaridade ocorre de uma forma rápida e reversível. Como um exemplo de aplicação desse nanofio modificado, propomos o seu uso como uma célula num dispositivo de memória não-volátil, que usa 2 bits por célula; ou seja, a informação pode ser armazenada tanto na posição quanto na polaridade da parede de domínio transversal. Embora os resultados apresentados aqui sejam para simples distribuições de impurezas magnéticas acreditamos que as suas consequências possam ser planejadas e estendidas para o desenvolvimento e realização de futuros dispositivos. / During the last decades the magnetization dynamics in nanostructured systems has become a subject of relevance from fundamental micromagnetism as well as for their new potential technological applications. Nanomagnets are interesting systems to study exotic magnetic structures like vortices, skyrmions and domain walls. The detailed understanding of the static and dynamic properties of these nanoscale spin configurations is a crucial requirement for the realization of future spintronic device. Due to the shape anisotropy that originates from dipolar interaction, the magnetic configurations that emerge in nanostructured systems are very sensitive to the geometric form and dimensions of the nanomagnet. This work is focused on the study of planar nanomagnets, in the formats of disk and strip, made of a soft magnetic material like Permalloy. The magnetic vortex is observed in a nanodisk with appropriate dimensions, because it is an intermediate state between the mono and multi-domain regimes. Under suitable conditions, a single transverse domain wall can be experimentally injected into a rectangular nanowire. Both the vortex core and the wall behaves as a quasiparticle, whose the properties can be manipulated by an external agent (magnetic field or spin polarized current). At low excitation amplitudes, it is known that the vortex describes a circular movement, whereas the wall is restricted to an unidirectional movement. In this regime, each quasiparticle evolves without changing its polarity; a structural property associated with a two-fold degenerate state. For an excitation amplitude strong enough, the quasiparticle experiences a deformation on its structure so that, it occurs the switching of the polarity. From the technological point of view, the control of the polarity reversing mechanism is fundamental, because this two-fold degeneracy can work as "zero"or "one", being useful to encode information for data storage or even to perform logical operations. Some works reported that nanomagnets containing defects can influence or modify strongly the dynamic of the quasiparticle. Imperfections are generated during the fabrication process of the nanomagnets or else they can be intentionally incorporated for a specific purpose. As an example, in order to control the domain wall motion it is very important to impose certain positions along the nanowire where the wall can stop. There are several means of establishing such critical points for the quasiparticle. Variations of geometry, cavities, notches, and so on can be classified as non-magnetic defects. Generally, this type of defect acts as a pinning site for the quasiparticle. A magnetic defect emerges from an inhomogeneity of the magnetic environment, in other words, a local variation of the magnetic properties. In a previous study, our team has modeled a magnetic impurity as a local variation of the exchange constant. As an immediate result of the insertion of a magnetic impurity into a nanomagnet, we have demonstrated via numerical simulations that magnetic impurities can induce two types of traps for the quasiparticle: a local reduction of the exchange constant corresponds to a pinning site (potential well), whereas a local increase of the exchange constant represents a blocking site (potential barrier). This thesis investigates the dynamic of the quasiparticle confined by a distribution of magnetic impurities: for the case of the vortex core it has been considered a ring of impurities, concentric to the nanodisk; and for the case of the domain wall it has been considered two clusters of impurities, identical and equidistant from the nanowire width axis. The found results for the modified nanodisk have shown that it is possible to modulate the gyrotropic frequency that depends strongly on the disk aspect ratio (thickness/diameter). In a disk with the ring of magnetic impurities, a fine tuning of the gyrotropic frequency can be obtained by varying of the ring parameters. Furthermore, it was found that the polarity switching of the vortex core can occur due to the interaction between the vortex core and the ring; the polarity reversing in a disk with a ring requires smaller excitation amplitudes than the disk without the ring does. The found results for the nanowire have indicated that it is possible to control the transverse domain wall position; the wall can be moved from a cluster to the other by simply reversing of the magnetic field direction. The switching of the transverse domain wall polarity was also investigated and the use of this impurity distribution demonstrated to be useful to stabilize the motion wall motion after occurring polarity reversal; thus the changing of the polarity occurs in a fast and reversible way. As an example of the application of this modified nanowire, we propose its use as a cell in a nonvolatile memory device based on 2 bits per cell, in other words, the information can be encoded in the position as well as the polarity of the transverse domain wall. Although the results presented here are for a very simple distribution of magnetic impurities, we believe their consequences can be planned and extended for the design and realization of future devices.

The concept of percolated perpendicular media (PPM) for magnetic data storage is expected to surpass the areal storage density of 1 Tbit in -², which is regarded as the fundamental limit of conventional granular CoCrPt:oxide based recording media. PPM consist of a continuous ferromagnetic thin film with densely distributed defects acting as pinning sites for magnetic domain walls. In this study, practical realizations of PPM were fabricated by the deposition of [Co/Pt]8 multilayers with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy onto nanoperforated templates with various perforation diameters and periods. The structural defects given by the templates serve as pinning sites for the magnetic domain walls within the [Co/Pt]8 multilayers. Magnetometry at both the integral and the local level was employed to investigate the influence of the template on the magnetization reversal and the domain wall pinning. It was found, that magnetic domains can be pinned at the ultimate limit, between three adjacent pinning sites. The coercivity and the depinning field, which both are a measure for the strength of the magnetic domain wall pinning, were found to increase with increasing perforation diameter. The size of magnetic domains within the magnetic film appeared not to depend solely on the diameter of the nanoperforations or on the period of the template, but on the ration between diameter and period. By means of micromagnetic simulations it was found, that the presence of ferromagnetic material within the pinning site given supports the pinning of magnetic domain walls, compared to a pinning site that is solely given by a hole in the magnetic thin film. Investigation of the evolution of the magnetization in magnetic fields smaller than the coercive field revealed, that the energy barrier against thermally induced magnetization reversal is sufficiently large to provide long-term (> 10 years) stability of an arbitrary magnetization state. This could also be qualitatively supported by micromagnetic simulations. Static read/write tests with conventional hard disk recording heads revealed the possibility of imprinting bit patterns into the PPM under study. The minimum bit pitch that could be read back thereby depended on the period of the nanoperforated template.

In dieser Doktorarbeit wird die Magnetisierungsdynamik von strukturierten, weichmagnetischen Einzelschichten aus Permalloy (Ni81Fe19) mittels stroboskopischer Kerrmikroskopie untersucht. Die Dicke der in unterschiedliche Formen (Kreise, Quadrate und Rechtecke) strukturierten magnetischen Schicht beträgt 50 nm bzw. 160 nm. Durch die Verwendung eines gepulsten Lasers als Beleuchtungsquelle wird eine Zeitauflösung erreicht, die unter 25 ps liegt. Parallel zu den Laserpulsen wird die Probe mit gepulsten Magnetfeldern angeregt und die Reaktion der Magnetisierung auf diese schnellen Magnetfeldänderungen wird untersucht. Diese Reaktion der Magnetisierung unterscheidet sich deutlich von einer Anregung mit quasistatischen Magnetfeldern. Durch die stroboskopische Beobachtungsweise sind nur reversible Prozesse sichtbar, irreversible Prozesse werden durch die Mittelung über mehrere Millionen Anregungs- und Beobachtungspulse nicht abgebildet. Dies wird bei der Anregung eines Vortex in einer Kreisscheibe deutlich, bei dem die Magnetisierungsrichtung im Vortexkern durch das gepulste Magnetfeld teilweise geschaltet wird. Dadurch ändert sich der Drehsinn der spiralförmigen Relaxationsbewegung des Vortex, was zu einer Überlagerung der beiden Bewegungen während der Beobachtung führt. Desweiteren wird eine Vervielfältigung von Vortex-Antivortex Paaren in Stachelwänden durch hochfrequente Felder gezeigt. Diese Vervielfältigung führt zur Erzeugung eines neuen, metastabilen Zustandes mit geringerem Stachelabstand. Mit steigender Frequenz des Feldes fällt der Stachelabstand bis auf 30 % des Ausgangswertes. Ab einer Grenzfrequenz, die durch die ferromagnetische Resonanz gegeben ist, kann die Magnetisierung dem Feld nicht mehr folgen und die Wandstruktur ist vergleichbar mit der im quasistatischen Grenzfall. Auch in dickeren Elementen wird diese Erzeugung beobachtet, wo sie zu einer irreversiblen Wandtransformation von der asymmetrischen Blochwand zur Stachelwand führt. Bei der Pulsanregung eines Landau-Domänenzustandes in einem Quadrat kommt es zur Bildung von sichelartigen Domänen an den Ecken des Quadrates. Die Entstehung dieser Domänen geschieht relativ schnell innerhalb einer Nanosekunde. Während der Relaxation der Magnetisierung lösen sich diese neu entstandenen Domänen durch Wandverschiebung wieder auf. Die Auflösung der Domänen geschieht deutlich langsamer als die Entstehung, was durch die unterschiedlichen Mechanismen, die bei der Entstehung (Magnetisierungsdrehung) und Auflösung (Wandverschiebung) der Domänen involviert sind, begründet werden kann. Außerdem kommt es zu einer inkohärenten Drehung der Magnetisierung in der Domäne mit antiparalleler Ausrichtung der Magnetisierung bezüglich des Pulsfeldes. Diese Drehung der Magnetisierung, lateral abwechselnd nach links und rechts, wird durch eine leichte Abweichung der Magnetisierung von einer perfekt homogenen Ausrichtung begünstigt.