TY  - JOUR
AU  - Holl, Christian
AU  - Knol, Marvin
AU  - Pratzer, Marco
AU  - Chico, Jonathan
AU  - Fernandes, Imara Lima
AU  - Lounis, Samir
AU  - Morgenstern, Markus
TI  - Probing the pinning strength of magnetic vortex cores with sub-nanometer resolution
JO  - Nature Communications
VL  - 11
IS  - 1
SN  - 2041-1723
CY  - [London]
PB  - Nature Publishing Group UK
M1  - FZJ-2020-05046
SP  - 2833
PY  - 2020
AB  - Understanding interactions of magnetic textures with defects is crucial for applications such as racetrack memories or microwave generators. Such interactions appear on the few nanometer scale, where imaging has not yet been achieved with controlled external forces. Here, we establish a method determining such interactions via spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy in three-dimensional magnetic fields. We track a magnetic vortex core, pushed by the forces of the in-plane fields, and discover that the core (~ 104 Fe-atoms) gets successively pinned close to single atomic-scale defects. Reproducing the core path along several defects via parameter fit, we deduce the pinning potential as a mexican hat with short-range repulsive and long-range attractive part. The approach to deduce defect induced pinning potentials on the sub-nanometer scale is transferable to other non-collinear spin textures, eventually enabling an atomic scale design of defect configurations for guiding and reliable read-out in race-track type devices.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - pmid:32504062
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000540308600001
DO  - DOI:10.1038/s41467-020-16701-y
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/888590
ER  -