Interplay between collective pinning and artificial defects on domain wall propagation in Co/Pt multilayers

G Rodríguez-Rodríguez (1) , Jl Menéndez (2) , A Hierro-Rodriguez (1) , A Pérez-Junquera , N Montenegro (1) , D Ravelosona (1, 3) , Jm Alameda (1) , M Vélez (1)

1 Dept. Física
2 Universidad de Oviedo [Oviedo]
3 Institut d'Electronique Fondamentale

The interplay between collective pinning on intrinsic structural defects and artificial pinning at a patterned hole is studied in magnetic multilayers with perpendicular anisotropy. The pinning strength of a patterned hole is measured through its efficiency to stop domain wall propagation into a consecutive unpatterned nanowire section (using antisymmetric magnetoresistance to detect the direction of domain wall propagation) whereas collective pinning is characterized by the field dependence of domain wall velocity. Close to room temperature, collective pinning becomes weaker than artificial pinning so that pinning at the hole compensates nucleation-pad geometry, blocking domain wall propagation across the nanowire.

Mots clés: : 75.60.Ch; 75.75.-c; 73.50.Jt

G Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Jl Menéndez, A Hierro-Rodriguez, A Pérez-Junquera, N Montenegro, et al.. Interplay between collective pinning and artificial defects on domain wall propagation in Co/Pt multilayers. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 2010, 43 (30), pp.305002. ⟨10.1088/0022-3727/43/30/305002⟩. ⟨hal-00569659⟩