Deroughening of Domain Wall Pairs by Dipolar Repulsion

M. Bauer, A. Mougin, J. P. Jamet, V. Repain, J. Ferré, R. L. Stamps, H. Bernas, and C. Chappert
Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 207211 – Published 27 May 2005

Abstract

As a magnetic domain wall propagates under small fields through a random potential, it roughens as a result of weak collective pinning, known as creep. Using Kerr microscopy, we report experimental evidence of a surprising deroughening of wall pairs in the creep regime, in a 0.5 nm thick Co layer with perpendicular anisotropy. A bound state is found in cases where two rough domains nucleated far away from one another and first growing under the action of a magnetic field eventually do not merge. The two domains remain separated by a strip of unreversed magnetization, characterized by flat edges and stabilized by dipolar fields. A creep theory that includes dipolar interactions between domains successfully accounts for (i) the domain wall deroughening as the width of the strip decreases and (ii) the quasistatic and dynamic field dependence of the strip width s.

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  • Received 18 November 2004

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.207211

©2005 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

M. Bauer1, A. Mougin1, J. P. Jamet1, V. Repain1, J. Ferré1, R. L. Stamps1,2, H. Bernas3, and C. Chappert4

  • 1Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, UMR CNRS 8502, Université Paris Sud, 91405 Orsay, France
  • 2School of Physics, M013, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia
  • 3Centre de Spectrométrie Nucléaire et de Spectrométrie de Masse, UMR CNRS 8609, Université Paris Sud, 91405 Orsay, France
  • 4Institut d’Electronique Fondamentale, UMR CNRS 8622, Université Paris Sud, 91405 Orsay, France

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Vol. 94, Iss. 20 — 27 May 2005

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