Non-destructive generation of nano-scale periodic pinning potentials for magnetic domain walls: a way to bias domain wall propagation

The stray magnetic field of an array of ferromagnetic nanodots is used to generate a spatially periodic pinning potential for domain walls moving through a physically separate, weakly disordered, magnetic layer lying beneath the array. This technique represents a non-destructive method to create tunable and localised pinning sites for domain walls which are consequently subject to co-existing (but independent) periodic and disordered pinning potentials. Beyond the fundamentally attractive application of creating a model experimental system to study interface motion through multiple co-existing pinning potentials, our system interestingly exhibits many characteristics that are normally associated with exchange bias. This is a direct result of the fact that pinning effects induced by the periodic pinning potential depend upon the polarity of the applied magnetic field which drives the domain wall motion, a phenomenon which manifests itself in field-polarity-dependent domain wall mobilities and profiles.