Current induced domain wall states in CPP nanopillars with perpendicular anisotropy

Abstract

Current induced domain wall creation in CPP nanopillars made of Co/Ni films with strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy is described. We find that stable domain wall states (DWS) can be nucleated with modest current densities of ∼107 A cm−2 and further controlled by current to restore the two uniform states. The reproducibility of both the creation and annihilation of such DWS is studied. Experiments have been performed several times for a given nanopillar, but also for different devices. The influence of temperature, size and shape of the devices as well as the distribution of magnetic properties on magnetization reversal is discussed.