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Magnetic multilayers on nanospheres

Nature Materials volume 4, pages 203–206 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

Thin-film technology is widely implemented in numerous applications1. Although flat substrates are commonly used, we report on the advantages of using curved surfaces as a substrate. The curvature induces a lateral film-thickness variation that allows alteration of the properties of the deposited material2,3. Based on this concept, a variety of implementations in materials science can be expected. As an example, a topographic pattern formed of spherical nanoparticles4,5 is combined with magnetic multilayer film deposition. Here we show that this combination leads to a new class of magnetic material with a unique combination of remarkable properties: The so-formed nanostructures are monodisperse, magnetically isolated, single-domain, and reveal a uniform magnetic anisotropy with an unexpected switching behaviour induced by their spherical shape. Furthermore, changing the deposition angle with respect to the particle ensemble allows tailoring of the orientation of the magnetic anisotropy, which results in tilted nanostructure material.

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Figure 1: Magnetic images of self-assembled particle arrays after Co/Pd film deposition.
Figure 2: Polar MOKE hysteresis loops.
Figure 3: Switching field (HS) as a function of the angle (θ) of the applied field (Happl).
Figure 4: MOKE hysteresis loops.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft through SFB 513 and the Emmy Noether program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, D-78457, Germany

    Manfred Albrecht, Ildico L. Guhr, Till C. Ulbrich, Johannes Boneberg, Paul Leiderer & Günter Schatz

  2. Hitachi San Jose Research Center, 650 Harry Road, San Jose, 95120, California, USA

    Guohan Hu

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  1. Manfred Albrecht
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  2. Guohan Hu
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Correspondence to Manfred Albrecht.

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Albrecht, M., Hu, G., Guhr, I. et al. Magnetic multilayers on nanospheres. Nature Mater 4, 203–206 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1324

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