Regensburg 2013 – scientific programme

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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus

MA 50: Poster II

MA 50.39: Poster

Friday, March 15, 2013, 10:30–13:30, Poster D

Control of Magnetic Domains and Domain Walls by Thermal Gradients — •Martin Stärk, Johannes Boneberg, Mikhail Fonin, and Elke Scheer — Department of Physics, University of Konstanz, Germany

Investigation and control of domains and domain walls in magnetic materials is very important for the understanding of the magnetism in thin films and nanostructures as well as for the development of future spintronic devices. Recently, the interaction between spin-currents or magnetic fields and domain configurations attracted considerable attention. With respect to new data storage media techniques as heat assisted magnetic recording, thermal effects in spin-polarized materials and nanostructures might get important.

From the theoretical point of view, nanometer-sized domain walls can be moved with a speed of 50 m/s by temperature gradients of around 50 K/µm (D. Hinzke et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 027205 (2011)). In order to investigate this behavior experimentally, we use ns-pulsed laser interference to generate temperature patterns with variable periods between 200 nm and 20 µm and thermal gradients of up to several hundred K/µm on thin films of ferromagnetic metals.

Using this technique, we study the effects on out-of-plane Co/Pd multilayer systems with magnetic force microscopy before and after the illumination. Thereby, a change in the domain distribution is observed.