Map of metastable states for thin circular magnetic nanocylinders

Nanomagnetic systems of artificially shaped ferromagnetic islands recently became a popular subject due to their current and potential applications in spintronics [R. P. Cowburn, Nat. Mater. 6, 255 (2007)], magnetophotonics [A. Garcia-Martin, G. Armelles, and S. Pereira Phys. Rev. B 71, 205116 (2005)], and superconductivity. [D. S. Golubovic, W. V. Pogosov, M. Morelle, and V. V. Moshchalkov, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 177904 (2004)] When the island size is close to the exchange length of magnetic material (around 15 nm), its magnetic structure becomes markedly different. It determines both static and dynamic magnetic properties of elements, but strongly depends on their shape and size. Here, we map this dependence for circular cylindrical islands of a few exchange lengths in size. We outline the region of metastability of C-type magnetic states, proving that they are indeed genuine and not a result of pinning on particle imperfections. A way to create the smallest particles with guaranteed magnetic vortex state at zero field becomes evident. It is expected that the map will help focus the efforts in planning of experiments and devices. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics.