Magnetism of Ferromagnetic Nanospirals
Eva Franke-Schubert
Collaborators Sy-Hwang Liou, Ralph Skomski
Properties of nanoscale materials are strongly affected by structural arrangement, shape, geometric confinement and physical proximity, which can be exploited to achieve novel functional characteristics. Glancing angle deposition (GLAD) technique provides precise nanoscale structural control and can be used to produce a variety of tilted and spiral nanostructures. Recently, we have demonstrated the fabrication of highly coherent and mechanically robust arrays of nanospirals of silicon (see fig.) and aluminum. Here, we extend these studies to magnetic nanospirals, using seed substrates to minimize magnetostatic and exchange coupling between the spirals. We will investigate the magnetic properties of the spirals and explore the possibility of controlling the magnetism locally by electric currents. Chiral magnetic nanostructures make it possible to create nanoscale spiral magnetization configurations with complex magnetic properties and potential applications in nanotechnology. For example, ferromagnetic nanospirals may be used in nanomagnetic information processing and sensors or driven as Helmholtz coils to create magnetic fields of the order 1 kOe with possible exploitation in nanoactuators or magnetic storage media.
Nanospirals produced by glancing angle deposition (GLAD).