Arrangement effects of triangular defects on magnetization reversal process in a permalloy dot

The arrangement effects of triangular defects on the magnetization configurations and switching process of a permalloy disk are investigated by micromagnetic simulations. For the case of one defect, the vortex is nucleated via the S state (W state) as the direction of the triangular defect is parallel (perpendicular) to the orientation of the external field. For the case of two defects, two types of switching processes are found dependent on their arrangement. For the two triangular defects with the same direction, the reversal occurs via formation, pinning, depinning and annihilation of the vortex state, however, for the two triangular defects with the opposite directions, the reversal is realized by formation and annihilation of the double-vortex state. The nucleation field for the disk with a triangular defect is more sensitive to the defect position than the case of a circular (square) defect, and it shows different variation trends for different triangular directions. The chirality of the vortex state nucleated in the reversal process can be controlled by the triangular defect. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.