Vortex nucleation and propagation in magnetic double-wedges and semi-squares for reliable quaternary storage systems

Abstract Magnetic vortices belong to the possibilities to store information in magnetic structures. Understanding their nucleation and propagation is also of interest in basic research. While vortices are usually examined in particles of homogeneous material, here we give an overview of the impact of borders between two materials, i.e. iron and permalloy, on magnetization reversal and vortex formation in double-wedges as well as adjacent rectangles of different thickness. While former investigations of pure iron nanoparticles of similar dimensions revealed different magnetization reversal magnetisms without vortex, with one or two vortices, the addition of a permalloy part stabilized the magnetization reversal so that in all situations under investigation, a single vortex was observed. Our simulations underline the technological importance of such double-material structures for the preparation of nanostructures for storage devices with reliable magnetization reversal processes, stable against erroneous modifications of nanoparticle dimensions and magnetic field orientations.