Quasistatic x-ray speckle metrology of microscopic magnetic return-point memory

Phys Rev Lett. 2003 May 2;90(17):175502. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.175502. Epub 2003 Apr 30.

Abstract

We have used coherent, resonant, x-ray magnetic speckle patterns to measure the statistical evolution of the microscopic magnetic domains in perpendicular magnetic films as a function of the applied magnetic field. Our work constitutes the first direct, ensemble-averaged study of microscopic magnetic return-point memory, and demonstrates the profound impact of interfacial roughness on this phenomenon. At low fields, the microscopic magnetic domains forget their past history with an exponential field dependence.