Highly ordered magnetic multilayer Ni/Cu nanowires

Highly ordered nanowires with multilayer of Ni/Cu, have been successfully prepared by pulsed chemical electrodeposition into nanoporous alumina membrane. The diameter (ranging from 30 to 100 nm) of wires can be easily controlled by pore size of alumina. The applied potential and the duration of each potential square pulse determine the thickness of the metal layers. The nanowires have been characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), magnetic force microscopy (MFM), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) measurements. From the result of MFM analysis, the magnetic multilayer nanowire indicates unique magnetic property. The MFM images indicate that every ferromagnetic layer separated by Cu layer was present as single-domain magnet. The results are demonstrated that this type of nanowires has a potential to the application of magnetic nanodevices. (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)