Probing the pinning strength of magnetic vortex cores with sub-nanometer resolution.

ABSTRACT: Understanding interactions of magnetic textures with defects is crucial for applications such as racetrack memories or microwave generators. Such interactions appear on the few nanometer scale, where imaging has not yet been achieved with controlled external forces. Here, we establish a method determining such interactions via spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy in three-dimensional magnetic fields. We track a magnetic vortex core, pushed by the forces of the in-plane fields, and discover that the core (~ 10⁴ Fe-atoms) gets successively pinned close to single atomic-scale defects. Reproducing the core path along several defects via parameter fit, we deduce the pinning potential as a mexican hat with short-range repulsive and long-range attractive part. The approach to d

SUBMITTER: Holl C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7275073 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature