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Magnetism

Vortex ups and downs

Nature Nanotechnology volume 2, page 206 (2007)Cite this article

In a combination of experimental and theoretical work, Teruo Ono of Kyoto University and colleagues in Japan and France, show that an oscillating current in which the electron spins are polarized in a certain direction can switch the vortex core in a permalloy nanodisk (Nature Mater. 6, 269–273; 2007). The spin current exerts a torque on the vortex core, which, according to simulation, causes it to rotate and ultimately reverse in about 20 nanoseconds.

Meanwhile, physicists at the Research Centre in Jülich and the Max Planck Institute in Stuttgart, both in Germany have simulated what happens when a short magnetic field pulse is applied in the plane of the disk (Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 117201; 2007). They find that a short pulse of about 60 picoseconds and 800 Gauss in strength (the earth's magnetic field is 0.5 Gauss) is enough to switch the vortex direction. Vortices disappear and are reformed where the direction of the in-plane magnetization changes sharply. The image is a simulation by the German group, which shows, starting at the top left, how a vortex (the point at the centre where the different colours meet) can be erased by a magnetic pulse and then reform elsewhere.

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  1. Jessica Thomas
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Thomas, J. Vortex ups and downs. Nature Nanotech 2, 206 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2007.92

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