Micromagnetic modeling of experimental hysteresis loops for heterogeneous electrodeposited cobalt films

Micromagnetic modeling provides a realistic description of the magnetic switching behavior in electrodeposited Co thin films that are either uniform (untemplated) or templated with an array of sub-micron spheres. Quantitative agreement between experimental results and simulations based on the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equations is achieved for both in-plane and perpendicular MH loops at two temperatures. By accounting for the sweep-rate dependence in coercivity values from simulated loops (with sweep rates 10(4)-10(-1) Oe/ns) and then extrapolating to the experimental regime (measurement times of 10-100 s), a self-consistent set of microscopic parameters is established to accommodate the complexity of the electrodeposited films. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4793209]