Epitaxial Fe (001) micro tiling: Size and interaction effects

The magnetic properties of 200 Å epitaxial Fe (001)/MgO (001) tiling are studied as a function of tile size and separation. For edge sizes above ∼3 μm, the individual tiles maintain the single domain behavior while below ∼3 μm the tiles break into domains due to demagnetizing effects. In addition, below an inter tile separation threshold of about 0.9 μm, a single tile magnetization switch provokes a reversal cascade in all the tiles; while, above this threshold, the individual tile’s magnetization switches independently. In this last case, we have experimental access to the distribution of nucleation sites. Thus, we have found a clear signature of the magnetic interaction between patterned epitaxial micro tiles with in-plane magnetization.