Fast propagation of weakly pinned domain walls and current-assisted magnetization reversal in He+-irradiated Pt/Co/Pt nanotracks

M Cormier (1, 2) , A Mougin (1) , J Ferré (1) , J-P Jamet (1) , R Weil (1) , J Fassbender (3) , V Baltz (4) , B Rodmacq (4)

1 IMRB - Institut Mondor de Recherche Biomédicale
2 ALTIS Semiconductor
3 Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research [Dresden]
4 INAC - Institut Nanosciences et Cryogénie

Magnetic-domain-wall propagation is experimentally studied in nanotracks etched in ultrathin Pt/Co/Pt films with out-of-plane magnetic anisotropy, where pinning has been artificially reduced by low-dose He + -irradiation. Fast domainwall propagation is demonstrated in such tracks under low magnetic fields, not greater than the fields necessary to make a domain wall propagate in the He + -irradiated plain films before patterning. A strong further enhancement of the track-magnetization reversal speed is obtained thanks to a Joule-heating-induced thermomagnetic effect, by applying magnetic-field and electrical-current pulses simultaneously to the track.

Mots clés: 75.60.Ch; 75.75.-c; 61.80.Jh; 85.70.Kh

M Cormier, A Mougin, J Ferré, J-P Jamet, R Weil, et al.. Fast propagation of weakly pinned domain walls and current-assisted magnetization reversal in He+-irradiated Pt/Co/Pt nanotracks. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 2011, 44 (21), pp.215002. ⟨10.1088/0022-3727/44/21/215002⟩. ⟨hal-00618207⟩