Control of DW pining in a nanowire system

Field-controlled domain wall pinning-depinning effects in a ferromagnetic nanowire-nanoislands system.
V. L. Mironov, O. L. Ermolaeva, E. V. Skorohodov, and A. Yu. Klimov
Phys. Rev. B 85, 144418 (2012)

(a) The A-type configuration of magnetization in the NW-NI system in an external magnetic field. (b) The potential energy profiles ENW (xDW) for different external magnetic fields. The solid line 1 is the energy profile at zero field. The solid line 2 is for the critical external field HB = 47 mT. The dashed line 3 is for the intermediate field 0.5HB. The DW pinning position is indicated schematically by the circle on curve 3. The energy landscape calculated directly from OOMMF simulations taking into account the effects of DW and NI magnetization disturbance is indicated by circles. (c) The model magnetization distribution in the NW-NI system at Hex = Hnuc, demonstrating the DW pinning on the potential barrier before the NIs. The S state in the NIs’ magnetization was caused by the external magnetic field. (d) The model MFM
contrast distribution from the NW-NI system (without nucleating pad) corresponding to the magnetization distribution shown in (c). The white arrow in the MFM image indicates the bright pole, which corresponds to a transverse DW.