Abstract
The magnetization reversal in nanoscaled antidot lattices is widely investigated to understand the tunability of the magnetic anisotropy and the coercive field through nanostructuring of thin films. By investigating highly ordered focused ion beam milled antidot lattices with a combination of first-order reversal curves and magnetic x-ray microscopy, we fully elucidate the magnetization reversal along the distinct orientations of a hexagonal antidot lattice. This combination proves especially powerful as all partial steps of this complex magnetization reversal can be identified and subsequently imaged. Through this approach we discovered several additional steps that were neglected in previous studies. Furthermore, by imaging the microscopic magnetization state during each reversal step, we were able to link the coercive and interaction fields determined by the first-order reversal curve method to true microscopic magnetization configurations and determine their origin.
Highlights
Nanoscaled antidot lattices, i.e., a periodic arrangement of holes in a thin film, have been investigated within a broad scientific scope and in various host materials
The nn and nnn directions differ in coercivity, and in the magnetization reversal behavior, which is discussed in the following where we focus on an antidot lattice with spacing a = 400 nm and diameter d = 50 nm in a 20 nm Fe film
When the orientation of the magnetization crosses an easy axis, this results in the formation of domains. These domains propagate through the antidot lattice along the nn directions, so that the domain walls span the shortest distance between two adjacent holes, minimizing the exchange energy associated to that domain wall
Summary
Nanoscaled antidot lattices, i.e., a periodic arrangement of holes in a thin film, have been investigated within a broad scientific scope and in various host materials. In magnetic materials these nanostructures lead to the observation of interesting phenomena such as artificial spin ice [1,2,3] and spin glass [4], magnetic monopoles [5], and they can act as magnonic crystals that can be used as spin wave filters and spin wave guides [6,7,8]. Microscopic investigations have been conducted by others using magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) measurements [22] and photoelectron emission microscopy
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