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Phys. Rev. B 81, 184417 (2010) [8 pages]

Development of vortex state in circular magnetic nanodots: Theory and experiment

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J. Mejía-López1,2, D. Altbir2,3, P. Landeros4, J. Escrig2,3, A. H. Romero5, Igor V. Roshchin6,7, C.-P. Li8, M. R. Fitzsimmons9, X. Batlle10, and Ivan K. Schuller8
1Facultad de Física, Pontificia Universidad Católica, Avenida Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago, Chile
2Center for the Development of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (CEDENNA), 917-0124 Santiago, Chile
3Departamento de Física, Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH), Avenida Ecuador 3493, 917-0124 Santiago, Chile
4Departamento de Física, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Avenida España 1680, Casilla 110-V, 2340000 Valparaíso, Chile
5Materials Department, CINVESTAV, Querétaro, Mexico
6Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University, 4242 TAMU, College Station, Texas 77843-4242, USA
7Materials Science and Engineering Program, Texas A&M University, 3003 TAMU, College Station, Texas 77843-3003 USA
8Department of Physics, University of California–San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0319, USA
9Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
10Departament de Fisica Fonamental, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Received 30 December 2009; revised 9 April 2010; published 18 May 2010

We compare magnetic reversal of nanostructured circular magnetic dots of different sizes. This comparison is based on superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometry, neutron scattering, Monte Carlo simulation, and analytical calculations and is quantified using a parameter which characterizes the variation in the hysteresis curve width. Below a critical dot diameter, the magnetic reversal occurs by coherent rotation and above that diameter, the reversal occurs by formation of a magnetic vortex. The vortex-core diameter is controlled by competing magnetic energy contributions. For 20-nm-thick Fe dots, the values of the critical diameter (58–60 nm) and the vortex core (16–19 nm) are in very good agreement between the different experimental and theoretical methods: neutron scattering, SQUID magnetometry, Monte Carlo simulations, and analytical calculations.

© 2010 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.81.184417
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevB.81.184417
PACS:
75.75.Fk, 75.10.-b
 
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