Static and dynamical study of the passage of a 180° domain wall over an artificial energy barrier

Abstract

The passage of a 180° domain wall (DW) from a 1000 Å thick uniaxial GdFe amorphous layer to a 500 Å layer through a thin TbFe layer is presented. In this system, the TbFe layer acts as a potential energy barrier for the DW. The propagation field H p at which the DW crosses the barrier is shown to increase linearly when the temperature is decreased. This is consistent with models based on crossing of the barrier by thermal activation. At very low (< 0.5 K) temperature some deviations occur.