Exchange coupling effects in Co-Pt nanochessboards

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-7-2018

Department

Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Abstract

To complement recent experimental findings [Vetter et al., APL Mater. 4, 096103 (2016)] on strong exchange coupling effects in Co-Pt nanochessboards featuring a single peak in the first-order reversal curve density plot and associated magnetic hardening as the characteristic structural dimension is reduced below the critical correlation length, the effects of the strong exchange coupling on the underlying magnetic domains and their evolutions are investigated using micromagnetic simulations. The nanochessboard consists of regularly distributed aligned nanorods of a magnetically hard tetragonal L10 phase and a magnetically soft cubic L12 phase, representing a unique type of exchange-coupled magnetic nanocomposites. The simulations reveal detailed magnetic domain processes specific to the nanochessboard structure and uncover an unusual dependence of the coercivity on the length scale, where an expected magnetic hardening is followed by an unexpected magnetic softening with decreasing characteristic dimension. The length scale-dependent exchange coupling effects, effective magnetic anisotropy, and magnetic domain structures and evolution pathways are analyzed to provide insights into the peculiar magnetic behaviors of Co-Pt nanochessboards.

Publisher's Statement

© 2018 Author(s). Publisher’s version of record: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5019841

Publication Title

Journal of Applied Physics

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