Rigorous single-period micromagnetic model of stripe domains: Comparison with analytics and experiment

Stripe domains in thin films form through a complex competition of perpendicular anisotropy and demag-netizing energy and are still lacking a complete micromagnetic description, despite being investigated since 50 years. This paper elucidates the formation of stripe domains with a special focus on the dependence of stripe domain width on film thickness with varying ratio of the two major energy contributions. An overview and review of the most established analytical models for the calculation of this dependency is given with respect to experimental data. For this purpose, new measurements on epitaxial Fe-Co-C films with perpendicular anisotropy have been performed. An efficient and rigorous micromagnetic simulations method is proposed, which proved to be comparable or better than previous models in describing experimental findings, especially for films with strongly dominating demagnetizing energy. Comprehensive simulations were performed to determine thickness-dependent stripe width for various material parameters, which can serve as a benchmark for analytical theories or can be used directly for comparison with experimental results. At a given combination of exchange constant and saturation polarization there exists a specific thickness at which the stripe width is independent of the uniaxial anisotropy.

Automated summary

This paper investigates the formation of stripe domains in thin films with perpendicular anisotropy and explores the dependence of stripe domain width on film thickness. Analytical models and simulations are used to analyze the experimental data and provide a benchmark for future studies.