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Complex free-space magnetic field textures induced by three-dimensional magnetic nanostructures.

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

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Authors

Hierro-Rodríguez, Aurelio  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6600-7801
Witte, Katharina 
Skoric, Luka 

Abstract

The design of complex, competing effects in magnetic systems-be it via the introduction of nonlinear interactions1-4, or the patterning of three-dimensional geometries5,6-is an emerging route to achieve new functionalities. In particular, through the design of three-dimensional geometries and curvature, intrastructure properties such as anisotropy and chirality, both geometry-induced and intrinsic, can be directly controlled, leading to a host of new physics and functionalities, such as three-dimensional chiral spin states7, ultrafast chiral domain wall dynamics8-10 and spin textures with new spin topologies7,11. Here, we advance beyond the control of intrastructure properties in three dimensions and tailor the magnetostatic coupling of neighbouring magnetic structures, an interstructure property that allows us to generate complex textures in the magnetic stray field. For this, we harness direct write nanofabrication techniques, creating intertwined nanomagnetic cobalt double helices, where curvature, torsion, chirality and magnetic coupling are jointly exploited. By reconstructing the three-dimensional vectorial magnetic state of the double helices with soft-X-ray magnetic laminography12,13, we identify the presence of a regular array of highly coupled locked domain wall pairs in neighbouring helices. Micromagnetic simulations reveal that the magnetization configuration leads to the formation of an array of complex textures in the magnetic induction, consisting of vortices in the magnetization and antivortices in free space, which together form an effective B field cross-tie wall14. The design and creation of complex three-dimensional magnetic field nanotextures opens new possibilities for smart materials15, unconventional computing2,16, particle trapping17,18 and magnetic imaging19.

Description

Keywords

Journal Title

Nat Nanotechnol

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1748-3387
1748-3395

Volume Title

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Rights

All rights reserved
Sponsorship
Isaac Newton Trust (18.08(l))
Leverhulme Trust (ECF-2018-016)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/M008517/1)
EPSRC Early Career Fellowship EP/M008517/1 Winton Program for the Physics of Sustainability Leverhulme Trust (ECF-2018-016) Isaac Newton Trust (18-08) L’Oréal-UNESCO UK and Ireland Fellowship For Women In Science 2019 European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant ref. H2020-MSCA-IF-2016-746958 Spanish AEI under project reference PID2019–104604RB/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 German Ministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) through contracts 05K16WED and 05K19WE2 European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 701647 FWF project I 4917.