Nucleation and annihilation of vortex states have been studied in two-dimensional arrays of densely packed cobalt dots. A clear signature of dipolar interactions both between single-domain state dots and vortex state dots has been observed from the dependence of vortex nucleation and annihilation fields on interdot separation. A direct consequence of these interactions is the formation of vortex chains as well as dipole chains aligned along the direction

Magnetostatic coupling effects are investigated in square lattices of polycrystalline circular Co dots as a function of dot diameter, spacing, and thickness. We observe a quadratic anisotropy for closely spaced dots when the dot thickness exceeds 15 nm, correlated to a change in the magnetization reversal process from coherent rotation to vortex nucleation/annihilation. To understand the observed anisotropy micromagnetic simulations have been performed

The reversal process of polycristalline circular Co dots is investigated for dot sizes for which the vortex state corresponds to the ground state configuration. Using magneto-optic Kerr magnetometry and magnetic force microscopy imaging, it is found that during the reversal of the magnetization, the system does not necessarily pass through its ground state configuration. For large dot diameters and thickness, the reversal occurs via nucleation, propagation,

In this work, two different aspects of the magnetic properties in systems of small dimensions have been investigated. The first aspect concerns the domain wall magnetoresistance in monocristallin cobalt nanowires of rectangular section. These nanowires were fabricated by electron-beam lithography and dry etching from epitaxial cobalt thin films with strong in-plane uniaxial anisotropy. The reduction of the lateral size of the system influences drastically

A trylayer nanoimprint process was used to fabricate high-density Co dot arrays. It is shown that choosing hybrane as the top layer resist gives better dimensional control of the replicated patterns compared to PMMA. By adjusting the etching time in the transfer process the dot sizes could be tailored in a wide range. The fabricated dot arrays with different sizesand period have then been studied by magneto-optic and magnetic force microscopy measurements.

The possible magnetization configurations of individual circular Co(0001) dots are investigated by means of 3D micromagnetic simulations as a function of dot dimensions. In zero applied, the vortex state corresponds to the ground state for diameters larger than 60 nm and up to a thickness of 25 nm where a transition into a weak stripe structure occurs.

A systematic investigation of the magnetic domain structure is presented for epitaxial sub-micron (10-10) Co wires characterized by a strong in-plane uniaxial magneto-crystalline anisotropy whose easy axis is oriented perpendicular to the long wire axis. Wires of varying width (100 to 1000 nm) and thickness (30 to 80 nm) were patterned by electron beam lithography and lift-off process. We establish experimentally the boundaries between the ground

Combined studies involving magnetic force microscopy and micromagnetic simulations are used to investigate the domain wall structure in epitaxial Co(10-10) thin films with strong in-plane uniaxial magneto-crystalline anisotropy. This letter shows experimental evidence that, for such a system, the domain wall structure transforms from an asymmetric Bloch wall into an asymmetric Néel wall upon decreasing the film thickness from 100 nm to 20 nm. This