TY - JOUR
T1 - The nature of charged zig-zag domains in MnAs thin films
AU - Engel-Herbert, R.
AU - Schaadt, D. M.
AU - Cherifi, S.
AU - Bauer, E.
AU - Belkhou, R.
AU - Locatelli, A.
AU - Heun, S.
AU - Pavlovska, A.
AU - Mohanty, J.
AU - Ploog, K. H.
AU - Hesjedal, T.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank J. A. H. Stotz for valuable discussions, C. Herrmann and the Nanostructuring department for the sample preparation and acknowledge support by ELETTRA, the EU under contract HPRI-CT-1999-00033, and the BMBF (Germany). E. B. acknowledges support of this work by the NSF under Grant no. 9818296 and by the ONR Grant no. N-000140210922.
PY - 2006/10
Y1 - 2006/10
N2 - We report on apparently charged domain walls in MnAs-on-GaAs(0 0 1) layers. For head-on domains, described as two domains facing each other with opposite magnetization, the domain walls of ≳ 200 nm thick films exhibit a zig-zag pattern. Depending on the width of the ferromagnetic stripes, which is a function of temperature and thus the strain in the easy axis direction, the zig-zag angle 2 θ increases from 90{ring operator} in the case of wide stripes to 180{ring operator} (i.e., to a straight wall) for narrow stripes. The underlying domain structure was calculated using a three-dimensional micromagnetic simulator. The calculations reveal a number of distinct domain patterns as a result of the system's attempt to reduce its energy through the formation of closure domain-like patterns in the easy plane. A diamond-like state consisting of two intersecting sub-surface domain walls is the underlying magnetic structure resulting in the observed, apparently charged domain walls. The zig-zag pattern of the domain boundary is explained by stray field minimization of the diamond state along the stripe.
AB - We report on apparently charged domain walls in MnAs-on-GaAs(0 0 1) layers. For head-on domains, described as two domains facing each other with opposite magnetization, the domain walls of ≳ 200 nm thick films exhibit a zig-zag pattern. Depending on the width of the ferromagnetic stripes, which is a function of temperature and thus the strain in the easy axis direction, the zig-zag angle 2 θ increases from 90{ring operator} in the case of wide stripes to 180{ring operator} (i.e., to a straight wall) for narrow stripes. The underlying domain structure was calculated using a three-dimensional micromagnetic simulator. The calculations reveal a number of distinct domain patterns as a result of the system's attempt to reduce its energy through the formation of closure domain-like patterns in the easy plane. A diamond-like state consisting of two intersecting sub-surface domain walls is the underlying magnetic structure resulting in the observed, apparently charged domain walls. The zig-zag pattern of the domain boundary is explained by stray field minimization of the diamond state along the stripe.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jmmm.2006.02.083
DO - 10.1016/j.jmmm.2006.02.083
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33748161378
SN - 0304-8853
VL - 305
SP - 457
EP - 463
JO - Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials
JF - Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials
IS - 2
ER -