Macrospin limit and configurational anisotropy in nanoscale permalloy triangles

L. Thevenard (1, 2) , H.T. Zeng (1) , D. Petit (1) , R.P. Cowburn (1)

1 Imperial College London
2 INSP - Institut des Nanosciences de Paris

In Permalloy submicron triangles, configurational anisotropy - a higher-order form of shape anisotropy - yields three equivalent easy axes, imposed by the structures' symmetry order. Supported by micromagnetic simulations, an experimental method was devised to evaluate the nanostructure dimensions for which a Stoner-Wohlfarth type of reversal could be used to describe this particular magnetic anisotropy. In this regime, a straightforward procedure using an in-plane rotating field allowed us to quantify experimentally the six-fold anisotropy fields for triangles of different thicknesses and sizes.

Mots clés: nanomagnetism; magnetic anisotropy; longitudinal Kerr effect; configurational anisotropy

Domaines: Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

L. Thevenard, H.T. Zeng, D. Petit, R.P. Cowburn. Macrospin limit and configurational anisotropy in nanoscale permalloy triangles. Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, 2010, 322 (15), pp.2152-2156. ⟨10.1016/j.jmmm.2010.01.048⟩. ⟨hal-00436024⟩