Magnetization reversal in film-nanostructure architectures

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Manfred Albrecht
• Subject Area: Experimental Condensed Matter Physics
• Term: from 2010 to 2013
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 165768161

A new concept of a storage medium referred to as percolated perpendicular medium (PPM) has been recently introduced. This medium consists of an exchange coupled magnetic film grown on a substrate with densely distributed defect sites acting as pinning sites for magnetic domain walls. In this respect the magnetic anisotropie is important to controll the domain wall width of the film which needs to be adjusted to the pore size and period. In the proposed project an innovative approach will be investigated which is based on the deposition of hard magnetic films onto nanoperforated membranes. These substrates will be synthesized via a sol-gel based strategy. The route allows preparing nanopores in a wide size range between 5 to 100 nm. Furthermore, Co/Pt multilayer systems and CoPt alloys provide a perpendicular anisotropy which can be substantially varied between 0.1 and 3 MJ/m3 by either changing the composition or the growth conditions allowing a systematic investigation of the effective domain wall pinning, which provides a further understanding of magnetic coupling phenomena at the nanoscale.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants