Static and dynamic properties of modulated phases in Co/Pt multilayers and their dependence on the total magnetic thickness

Ferromagnetic (FM) / non-magnetic multilayers with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy provide an efficient route for controlling magnetism, with highly tunable magnetic properties by changing the individual layer thicknesses or the number of repetitions [1]. During the past years, an extensive work effort has led to an apparently complete understanding of those structures. The majority of these studies, though, utilized very thin FM layers since an in-plane reorientation of the magnetization is expected for larger individual thicknesses. However, for sufficiently thick individual FM layers, the system undergoes a second transition back to out-of-plane orientation [2]. Consequently, we present a study of magnetic properties of [Co(t )/Pt(0.7nm)] multilayers as a function of t thicknesses and Co/Pt bilayer repetitions N. Studying in more detail the influence of the magnetic history on the remanent domain pattern, we determine the range of material properties and magnetic fields where, instead of the typical maze-like domains, a lattice of bubbles is stabilized with extraordinary high density, as depicted in Fig. 1 [3]. The dynamic response of such modulations of the ferromagnetic order parameter is further investigated by ferromagnetic resonance spectroscopy (FMR). We find that the observed FMR modes have a direct correlation to the magnetic phase of the samples and its evolution under the application of a magnetic field, as depicted in Fig.2. Using both micromagnetic modeling and analytical calculations, we are able to quantitatively reproduce our experimental observations, which suggest the existence of localized spin-wave and FMR modes that are dependent on the modulation period as well as on the type of modulation itself [4]. Lastly, we show that such modulations resemble magnonic crystals, where tuning of the band-gap is enabled by the specific magnetic field history.
References: [1] M. T. Johnson et al. Rep. Prog. Phys. 59, 1409 (1996).
[2] L. Fallarino et al. Phys. Rev. B 94, 064408 (2016).
[3] K. Chesnel et al. Phys. Rev. B 98, 224404 (2018).
[4] L. Fallarino et al., accepted in Phys. Rev. B (03/01/2019).