Peculiarities of the energy landscape of a rectangular magnetic nanoisland

Abstract

Micromagnetic modeling is used to study the energetics of magnetic switching of a rectangular single-layer permalloy nanoisland. The potential local energy minima of this system are found in the absence of an external field. The magnetization reversal along the long axis of the island is studied at different values of a constant transverse bias field. It is found that the presence of such a bias leads to a reduction of the longitudinal switching field. The energy landscape of the system is studied using the Nudged Elastic Band (NEB) method to shed more light on the nature of the effect. It is shown that the energy barrier for longitudinal switching is reduced with the growth of the magnitude of the transverse bias. This effect may have practical applications for optimizing MRAM technology, because it helps reduce the memory cell’s switching field.