Abstract
In this article, the magnetic properties of hexagonally ordered antidot arrays made of Dy13Fe87 alloy are studied and compared with corresponding ones of continuous thin films with the same compositions and thicknesses, varying between 20 nm and 50 nm. Both samples, the continuous thin films and antidot arrays, were prepared by high vacuum e-beam evaporation of the alloy on the top-surface of glass and hexagonally self-ordered nanoporous alumina templates, which serve as substrates, respectively. By using a highly sensitive magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) measurements an interesting phenomenon has been observed, consisting in the easy magnetization axis transfer from a purely in-plane (INP) magnetic anisotropy to out-of-plane (OOP) magnetization. For the 30 nm film thickness we have measured the volume hysteresis loops by VSM with the easy magnetization axis lying along the OOP direction. Using magnetic force microscopy measurements (MFM), there is strong evidence to suggest that the formation of magnetic domains with OOP magnetization occurs in this sample. This phenomenon can be of high interest for the development of novel magnetic and magneto-optic perpendicular recording patterned media based on template-assisted deposition techniques.
Highlights
The engineering of magnetic systems based on planar patterned nanostructures by properly controlling the shape and size of the patterned nano-objects allows obtaining magnetic films with non-collinear magnetization distribution, enabling the development of magnetic data processing devices with vertical architecture and spin-based electronics [1]
It becomes evident from the comparison of both scanning electron microscope (SEM) images displayed in Figure 1a–c that there is a nearly inversed linear dependence between the diameter of the antidots, d, and the film thickness, t, for a given pore diameter of the nanoporous alumina template, dp
We report on the transfer of the easy magnetization axis from the in plane, in the case of Dy13Fe87 thin film, to out of plane, for the antidot arrays film with the same thickness condition
Summary
The engineering of magnetic systems based on planar patterned nanostructures by properly controlling the shape and size of the patterned nano-objects allows obtaining magnetic films with non-collinear magnetization distribution, enabling the development of magnetic data processing devices with vertical architecture and spin-based electronics [1]. The extraordinary features exhibited by these nanostructured materials comes from their relatively large surface to volume ratio, which influences the shape, morphology, crystalline structure, and surface roughness of the material in the nanoscale range [5,6] These artificial arrays have been recently used in ultra-high density data storage applications [7], where the antidot lattices allow to define a peculiar type of bit patterned media that can overcome the superparamagnetic limit due to the non-formation of isolated magnetic domains [8], in addition to magnetic bio-sensing applications [9], among many others. We report on the observation of an interesting phenomenon, consisting of the easy magnetization axis transfer from a purely in-plane (INP) magnetic anisotropy to out-of-plane (OOP) magnetization, for a 30 nm thick layer of Dy13Fe87 thin film with hexagonally ordered antidots lattice
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