Influence of point defects on magnetic vortex structures

TL;DR

This study combines experimental and simulation methods to analyze how point defects influence magnetic vortex pinning in submicron permalloy disks, providing insights into defect-induced vortex behavior.

Contribution

It introduces a combined experimental and micromagnetic simulation approach to study vortex pinning at artificial point defects in ferromagnetic disks.

Findings

Good agreement between experiments and simulations on pinning fields

Artificial point defects effectively pin magnetic vortices

Micromagnetic modeling accurately predicts vortex behavior

Abstract

We employed micro-Hall magnetometry and micromagnetic simulations to investigate magnetic vortex pinning at single point defects in individual submicron-sized permalloy disks. Small ferromagnetic particles containing artificial point defects can be fabricated by using an image reversal electron beam lithography process. Corresponding micromagnetic calculations, modeling the defects within the disks as holes, give reasonable agreement between experimental and simulated pinning and depinning field values.