Motion of magnetic domain walls and vortices in epitaxial magnetite microstructures

Abstract

We report on the response of magnetic domains in thin magnetite microstructures to weak external magnetic fields. Magnetite islands were grown by high-temperature oxygen-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on Ru(0001). The islands, micrometric wide and tens of nanometers thick are of high structural quality, each having been grown from a single nucleation center. Their magnetic domain structure is dominated by shape anisotropy, i.e., they present Landau flux-closure domain configurations. The magnetic domains of the in situ grown microstructures have been imaged directly by means of x-ray magnetic circular dichroism in photoemission electron microscopy while applying external, in-plane magnetic fields along different directions. Upon application of an external field the Landau state vortex core experiences a displacement along a direction perpendicular to the excitation field. The behavior of the Landau state under the applied magnetic field is quantified and compared with micromagnetic simulations. The results highlight the bulk-like magnetic properties of the nanometer-thick microstructures, opening the way to their possible use in technological applications.