Reversal process of a magnetic vortex core under the combined action of a perpendicular field and spin transfer torque

In a nanopillar with dipolarly coupled vortices, we present an experimental and simulation study to understand how the interplay between the bias field and spin transfer torque impacts reversal of the vortex cores. We find that, depending on the current values, vortex cores might experience different physical mechanisms for their reversal, namely, a static or a dynamic switching. We believe that our results might be useful in the context of vortex based non volatile memories, as a current controlled selective core switching is proposed.