Magnetic exchange coupled heterostructures on spherical nanoparticles

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Novel properties originating from the combination of magnetism with the reduced dimensionality of nanoobjects are of considerable interest for fundamental science but are also readily used in a wide range of technological applications. In this project, we aim to study the magnetic coupling phenomena in magnetic heterostructures consisting of hard and soft components grown on arrays of SiO2 spherical particles of various sizes. This system is of potential interest to realize an exchange coupled composite media, a novel media concept for magnetic data storage. As a hard magnetic layer, FePt:Cu alloys are considered. As a soft layer we choose Co/Pt multilayer stacks allowing easy adjustment of the magnetic properties of the layer. Magnetic nanostructures will be formed by depositing the hard/soft composite onto self-assembled arrays of nonmagnetic SiO2 spherical particles, thus resulting in arrays of magnetic caps. Varying the size of the particles as well as the thickness of the deposited layers, the magnetostatic and exchange coupling between the neighboring caps can be systematically modified, thus providing direct access to the change of the fundamental magnetic interactions at the nanoscale. Moreover, deposition of magnetic films on curved surfaces of spherical particles is expected to result in a substantial modification of the magnetization reversal behavior compared to the films grown on planar substrates.