No Arabic abstract
We investigate the influence of artificial defects (small holes) inserted into magnetic nanodisks on the vortex core dynamics. One and two holes (antidots) are considered. In general, the core falls into the hole but, in particular, we would like to remark an interesting phenomenon not yet observed, which is the vortex core switching induced by the vortex-hole interactions. It occurs for the case with only one hole and for very special conditions involving the hole size and position as well as the disk size. Any small deformation in the disk geometry such as the presence of a second antidot changes completely the vortex dynamics and the vortex core eventually falls into one of the defects. After trapped, the vortex center still oscillates with a very high frequency and small amplitude around the defect center.
Dynamics of magnetic vortex core switching in nanometer-scale permalloy disk, having a single vortex ground state, was investigated by micromagnetic modeling. When an in-plane magnetic field pulse with an appropriate strength and duration is applied to the vortex structure, additional two vortices, i.e., a circular- and an anti-vortex, are created near the original vortex core. Sequentially, the vortex-antivortex pair annihilates. A spin wave is created at the annihilation point and propagated through the entire element; the relaxed state for the system is the single vortex state with a switched vortex core.
Vortex states in magnetic nanodisks are essentially affected by surface/interface induced Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions. Within a micromagnetic approach we calculate the equilibrium sizes and shape of the vortices as functions of magnetic field, the material and geometrical parameters of nanodisks. It was found that the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya coupling can considerably increase sizes of vortices with right chirality and suppress vortices with opposite chirality. This allows to form a bistable system of homochiral vortices as a basic element for storage applications.
The ability to modulate light at high speeds is of paramount importance for telecommunications, information processing, and medical imaging technologies. This has stimulated intense efforts to master optoelectronic switching at visible and near-infrared frequencies, although coping with current computer speeds in integrated architectures still remains a major challenge. As a partial success, midinfrared light modulation has been recently achieved through gating patterned graphene. Here we show that atomically thin noble metal nanoislands can extend optical modulation to the visible and near-infrared spectral range. We find plasmons in thin metal nanodisks to produce similar absorption cross-sections as spherical particles of the same diameter. Using realistic levels of electrical doping, plasmons are shifted by about half their width, thus leading to a factor-of-two change in light absorption. These results, which we substantiate on microscopic quantum theory of the optical response, hold great potential for the development of electrical visible and near-infrared light modulation in integrable, nanoscale devices.
We report on the switching of the magnetic vortex core in a Pac-man disk using a magnetic field pulse, investigated via micromagnetic simulations. The minimum core switching field is reduced by 72 % compared to that of a circular disk with the same diameter and thickness. However, the core switches irregularly with respect to both the field pulse amplitude and duration. This irregularity is induced by magnetization oscillations which arise due to excitation of the spin waves when the core annihilates. We show that the core switching can be controlled with the assist magnetic field and by changing the waveform.
Direct observation of vortex states in an antiferromagnetic layer have been recently reported [Wu, et al, Nature Phys. 7, 303 (2011)]. In contrast to their analogues in ferromagnetic systems, namely in nanomagnets, the vortex core of antiferromagnets are not expected (and have not been observed) to present gyrotropic or any other remarkable dynamics, even when external fields are applied. Using simulated annealing and spin dynamics techniques we have been able to describe a number of properties of such a vortex state. Besides of being in agreement with reported results, our results also indicate, whenever applied to antiferromagnetic nanodisks, that the presence of holes in the sample may induce two types of motions for this vortex. Its dynamics depends upon the relative separation between its core and the hole: when they are very apart the vortex core oscillates near the nanodisk center (its equilibrium position); while, if they are sufficiently close, the core moves towards the hole where it is captured and remains static.