Magnetic nanostructures revealing the exchange bias (EB) effect have attracted much interest in recent years due to their promising applications in spintronics, magneticsensing and recording devices with various functionalities. In this paper, we report on the perpendicular exchange bias effect in a multilayered thin film composed of [Co/Pd] ferromagnetic multilayers exchange-coupled to an antiferromagnetic IrMn. The film was deposited on a porous anodized titania template. Influences of the films' surface morphology as well as the order of layers deposited on the EB effect were studied. The enhancements of the EB field H-EB (up to 30%) and the coercive field H-C (two times) were achieved in the nanoporous films relative to their continuous film counterparts, which could be attributed to the specific morphology of the porous surfaces.

Magnetic droplets are nontopological dynamical soli tons that can be nucleated in nanocontact based spin torque nano-oscillators (STNOs) with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy free layers. While theory predicts that the droplet should be of the same size as the nanocontact, its inherent drift instability has thwarted attempts at observing it directly using microscopy techniques. Here, we demonstrate highly stable magnetic droplets in all-perpendicular STNOs and present the first detailed droplet images using scanning transmission X-ray microscopy. In contrast to theoretical predictions, we find that the droplet diameter is about twice as large as the nanocontact. By extending the original droplet theory to properly account for the lateral current spread underneath the nanocontact, we show that the large discrepancy primarily arises from current-in-plane Zhang-Li torque adding an outward pressure on the droplet perimeter. Electrical measurements on droplets nucleated using a reversed current in the antiparallel state corroborate this picture.

The magnetic properties of a thin film consisting of an exchange-coupled [Co/Ni](2)/NiFe multilayer have been studied as a function of the NiFe thickness by using Monte Carlo modeling and compared with experimental results of [Co/Ni](4)/Co/NiFe multilayers. Both modeling and experiment showed that the NiFe thickness controls the effective anisotropy. The direction of the easy axis is determined by a competition between the perpendicular crystalline anisotropy of the Co/Ni and the shape anisotropy of the multilayer. As the thickness of the NiFe layer increases, the reversal mechanism of the thin film changes from the nucleation of reverse domains to vortex propagation. Therefore, our results reveal the magnetic configurations and the easy axis reorientation of mixed-anisotropy multilayers.

We review the recent experimental advancements in the realization and understanding of magnetic droplet solitons generated by spin transfer torque in orthogonal nanocontact based spin torque nanooscillators (STNOs) fabricated on extended spin valves and spin valve nanowires. The magnetic droplets are detected and studied using the STNO microwave signal and its resistance, the latter both quasistatically and time-resolved. The droplet nucleation current is found to have a minimum at intermediate magnetic field strengths and the nature of the nucleation changes gradually from a single sharp step well above this field, mode-hopping around the minimum, and continuous at low fields. The mode-hopping and continuous transitions are ascribed to droplet drift instability and re-nucleation at different time scales, which is corroborated by time-resolved measurements. We argue that the use of tilted anisotropy fixed layers could reduce the nucleation current further, move the nucleation current minimum to lower fields, and potentially remove the need for an applied magnetic field altogether. Finally, evidence of an edge mode droplet in a nanowire is presented.

We review the recent experimental advancements in the realization and understanding of magnetic droplet solitons generated by spin transfer torque in orthogonal nanocontact based spin torque nanooscillators (STNOs) fabricated on extended spin valves and spin valve nanowires. The magnetic droplets are detected and studied using the STNO microwave signal and its resistance, the latter both quasistatically and time-resolved. The droplet nucleation current is found to have a minimum at intermediate magnetic field strengths and the nature of the nucleation changes gradually from a single sharp step well above this field, mode-hopping around the minimum, and continuous at low fields. The mode-hopping and continuous transitions are ascribed to droplet drift instability and re-nucleation at different time scales, which is corroborated by time-resolved measurements. We argue that the use of tilted anisotropy fixed layers could reduce the nucleation current further, move the nucleation current minimum to lower fields, and potentially remove the need for an applied magnetic field altogether. Finally, evidence of an edge mode droplet in a nanowire is presented.

Several scientific issues concerning the latest generation read heads for magnetic storage devices, based on CoFeB/MgO/CoFeBmagnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) are known to be controversial, including such fundamental questions as to the behavior and the role of B in optimizing the physical properties of these devices. Quantitatively establishing the internal structures of several such devices with different annealing conditions using hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, we resolve these controversies and establish that the B diffusion is controlled by the capping Ta layer, though Ta is physically separated from the layer with B by several nanometers. While explaining this unusual phenomenon, we also provide insight into why the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) is optimized at an intermediate annealing temperature, relating it to B diffusion, coupled with our studies based on x-ray diffraction and magnetic studies.

Exchange spring magnets, consisting of a [Co(0.5 nm)/Pd(1 nm)](5) multilayer with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and a Co20Fe60B20 film with easy plane anisotropy, of variable thickness t(CFB), are investigated using Brillouin light scattering. On reducing t(CFB) in the range 0.8-2.3 nm, the spin-wave frequency gap displays a remarkable increase from nearly 4-48 GHz, reflecting the corresponding rapid growth of the tilting angle of the magnetization with respect to the film normal. These findings are interpreted using a one-dimensional model in which each atomic layer is assumed to be uniformly magnetized, subjected to an effective out-of-plane or easy-plane anisotropy depending on the layer position in the stack, and exchange coupled to its two nearest neighbour atomic layers. With respect to previously investigated [Co/Pd]-NiFe hybrid magnets, a largest frequency tunability, restricted to a narrower range of the soft layer thickness, is observed.