Numerical analysis of sensitivity distribution for MR strips stabilized by permanent magnet films

Permanent magnet films for applications in microelectromechanical systems

Spin waves (SWs) are emerging as a potential alternative to electrical signals for computing and signal processing. Because SWs have relatively short wavelengths at microwave frequencies, they have the potential for applications in high-speed chip-scale electronics [1]. This work seeks to design and fabricate a spin-wave-based real-time spectrum analyzer that exploits SW interference in analogy to an optical spectrometer [2]. Here, microwave electrical signals are converted into SWs. All processing is then done by the diffraction and interference of SWs as they propagate in a magnetic thin film. After the interference pattern forms, SWs are then converted back into electrical signals.This type of device requires SWs having an isotropic dispersion relation, which, in turn, requires an out-of-plane DC bias field. These spin waves are forward-volume spin waves (FVSW). The focus of the work presented here is to explore the design space of a microwave-to-spin-wave transducer for FVSWs, where the microwave signal is introduced by a coplanar waveguide (CPW).The SW excitation spectrum of an external RF magnetic field acting on a magnetic thin film is the result of the interference between SWs launched from all points of the film that are excited by the magnetic field. For a magnetic field from a CPW, this interference results in a comb-like spatial-frequency response, which is equivalent to the Fourier transform (FT) of the spatial distribution of the magnetic field that acts on the magnetic film [3]. However, because the device described above requires a relatively constant transfer function over the full bandwidth, i.e., without nulls, the comb-like excitation spectrum from a CPW would not be suitable for our applications.Launching spin waves from the edge of the film can be used to improve the spin-wave excitation spectrum for a couple of reasons. First, it has been shown that the edge of a film can be an efficient broadband source of spin-waves [4]. And second, because only part of the CPW’s field acts on the magnetic film, the FT of only that part describes the excitation spectrum; the FT of the spatial distribution is more delta-function-like and therefore is more broadband than the previous case.To design the edge-launched SW transducer, micromagnetic simulations were done in Mumax3 [5] using the magnetic field from CPWs simulated in Ansys HFSS. Our simulations (Fig. 1) show the frequency response of this simulated structure with the edge 2 μm away from the CPW. These simulations verify that the transducer’s excitation spectrum is improved, i.e., made more uniform, by placing the CPW beside the edge of the film rather than on top of the film. This improved bandwidth comes at the cost of transducer efficiency, since only the field to the side of the CPW acts on the magnetic film.Because the magnetic field decreases rapidly with distance from the CPW, the edge of the film should be as close to the CPW as possible to increase coupling between the CPW and the film. Representative waveforms given in Fig. 2 show that because the small out-of-plane component of the RF magnetic field is parallel to the large DC-bias magnetic field, it contributes very little to the excitation of a SW compared to the in-plane components of the field. The results of the simulations show that for the same magnetic field, raising the bottom of the CPW increases the in-plane component of the field and increases the amplitude of the SW.Yet another configuration would be to place the CPW on the magnetic film and create an edge-launcher by etching a gap in the film to the side of the CPW. Excessively large fields can produce unstable spin-waves with additional unwanted undesirable frequency components [6]. With a gap in the magnetic material, the internal magnetic field crosses the gap at a reduced field strength, removing the unwanted structure and resulting in SWs at the desired wavelength, as well as a smoother frequency response (Fig. 1.).The structure of the previous paragraph was simulated with the properties of an YIG thin film having different thicknesses (30 nm and 243 nm). It is found that increasing the distance between the gap and the CPW increases the amplitude of the resulting SW with diminishing returns, as shown in Fig. 2.With a gap that is 2 μm wide and 6 μm away from the CPW, we find that for the thinner film this structure produces a SW with a smaller amplitude than when the material underneath the CPW is nonmagnetic and the edge is flush with CPW. However, with the thicker film (Fig. 2), the structure with the magnetic film under the CPW produces a larger SW than the structure without the magnetic material under the CPW. **

We are interested in the deformation of a thin magnetoelastic film. This has many possible applications, such as in microfluidic actuators and sensors. In previous articles a finite element method has been used for transient simulation of the deformation of a film, for the special case of soft magnetic material only. Here the approach is extended to the case of permanent magnetoelastic materials. The key enhancements required for simulation of magnetoelastic materials are a nonlinear hyperelastic Mooney-Rivlin material model, addition of an implicit system of equations for the scalar magnetic potential, and a more complex asymmetric Maxwell stress tensor. A simple test problem was constructed, and simulations for a soft magnetic film and a permanent magnetic film are compared.

A novel scheme essentially eliminates side-reading while maintaining on-track magnetic sensitivity for spin-valve read heads. By directly patterning a magnetic layer that is antiparallelly coupled with the free layer beyond the track edges, the magnetic torque generated by signal field in the wing regions of the free layer can be counterbalanced by the torque generated by the patterned layer via the antiparallel coupling. The magnetic read width of the sensor becomes essentially the same as the physical track width for track widths as low as 50 nm. With this scheme, the on-track magnetic sensitivity exhibits virtually no reduction as track width reduces from 200 to 50 nm. In addition, the scheme enables recessing the contact leads from the track edges to reduce shield-to-shield widening at the track edges.

In order to improve off-track capability and thus to achieve higher track density, both sides of the upper and lower pole tips of inductive thin film heads were trimmed to become nearly the same in width, through photolithography and ion milling processes at the air bearing surface. The off-track capability improvement attained by the pole trimming was experimentally estimated by performing off-track profile evaluation and measurement. The difference between the effective track width and the upper pole width, which represents the amount of track side writing and side crosstalk effect, was found to be reduced to 68% of that seen in conventional thin film heads. It was also found that the track interval can be squeezed by as much as 1.0 /spl mu/m more than conventional thin film heads, based on the 747 curve comparison. >

When the track density of two-dimensional magnetic recording (TDMR) systems is increased, intertrack interference (ITI) inevitably grows, resulting in the extreme degradation of an overall system performance. In this work, we present coding, writing, and reading techniques which allow TDMR systems with multi-readers to overcome severe ITI. A rate-5/6 two-dimensional (2D) modulation code is adopted to protect middle-track data from ITI based on cross-track data dependence. Since the rate-5/6 2D modulation code greatly improves the reliability of the middle-track, there is a bit-error rate gap between middle-track and sidetracks. Therefore, we propose the different track width writing technique to optimize the reliability of all three data tracks. In addition, we also evaluate the TDMR system performance using an user areal density capability (UADC) as a main key parameter. Here, an areal density capability (ADC) can be measured by finding the bit-error rate of the system with sweeping track and linear densities. The UADC is then obtained by removing redundancy from the ADC. Simulation results show that a system with our proposed techniques gains the UADC of about 4.66% over the conventional TDMR systems.

Numerical evaluation for the effective slab width of continuous composite beams

We have designed and realized magnetic trapping geometries for ultracold atoms based on permanent magnetic films. Magnetic chip based experiments give a high level of control over trap barriers and geometric boundaries in a compact experimental setup. These structures can be used to study quantum spin physics in a wide range of energies and length scales. By introducing defects into a triangular lattice, kagome and hexagonal lattice structures can be created. Rectangular lattices and (quasi-)one-dimensional structures such as ladders and diamond chain trapping potentials have also been created. Quantum spin models can be studied in all these geometries with Rydberg atoms, which allow for controlled interactions over several micrometers. We also present some nonperiodic geometries where the length scales of the traps are varied over a wide range. These tapered structures offer another way to transport large numbers of atoms adiabatically into subwavelength traps and back.

Thin films and coatings of permanent magnetic materials have found extensive applications in a wide range of technological domains. SmCo thin films show tremendous potential for use as permanent magnetic films on account of their high anisotropy fields, moderately high saturation magnetization and high curie temperature. In the present research, SmCo thin films have been deposited on single crystal Si(1 0 0) substrates using pulsed laser deposition technique. The films were deposited at a fixed substrate temperature of 400◦C by varying the number of pulses, in order to get thin films of different thicknesses. Effect of laser pulses on the crystal structure evolution, composition of the deposited material, film thicknesses and hence the magnetic properties have been investigated. X-ray diffraction analysis was performed in order to determine the crystal structure of the deposited films. The compositional analysis was performed by using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. A slight variation in the Sm and Co contents was observed in the thin films grown by varying the laser shots. The microstructural information of the thin films was obtained by using a scanning electron microscope. The magnetic and electrical parameters were investigated by using vibrating sample magnetometer and two point probe respectively. The results show hard magnetic and conducting nature of all deposited thin films except sample 1 due to poor crystallinity.

In this paper a novel hybrid piezoelectric and electromagnetic energy harvester for civil engineering low-frequency sloshing environment is reported. The architecture, fabrication and characterization of the harvester are discussed. The hybrid energy harvester is composed of a permanent magnet, copper coil, and PVDF(polyvinylidene difluoride) piezoelectric film, and the upper U-tube device containing a cylindrical fluid barrier is connected to the foundation support plate by a hinge and spring. The two primary means of energy collection were through the vortex street, which alternately impacted the PVDF piezoelectric film through fluid shedding, and the electromotive force (EMF) induced by changes in the magnetic field position in the conducting coil. Experimentally, the maximum output power of the piezoelectric transformer of the hybrid energy harvester was 2.47 μW (circuit load 270 kΩ; liquid level height 80 mm); and the maximum output power of the electromagnetic generator was 2.72 μW (circuit load 470 kΩ; liquid level height 60 mm). The low-frequency sloshing energy collected by this energy harvester can drive microsensors for civil engineering monitoring.

The numerical calculation of the leakage field in a novel laser-power modulation direct overwrite medium has been carried out. The medium had four functional layers: initializing layer, biasing layer, thermal isolating layer and storage layer. The leakage field applied to the storage layer was changed by the laser power. The degree of leakage field change and overwritable domain width, where the direction of an effective field applied to the storage layer could be modulated, were obtained as the figures of merit for overwriting performance. Si-N and Zr-O films were chosen as the thermal isolating layer in order to change the thermal response in the storage layer and the biasing layer. It has been found that the medium with a Si-N thermal isolating layer is suitable for overwriting and that leakage field modulation over 120 Oe was available within a domain width of 0.7 µm.

The magnetic flux conductivity in the tip of a recording head was examined for various applied field and closure domain configurations using a two-dimensional micromagnetic model developed to obtain the domain patterns in soft magnetic thin films. A permalloy thin film sample was selected to simulate a monopole head configuration, and an external field was applied to various closure domain ground states that had zero net remanence magnetization. It was found that for small fields the magnetization process is linear and reversible, and both the susceptibility and the effective track width increase as the size of the closure domains is reduced. For large fields, however, the variation of the flux conduction is much less sensitive to the size of the zero-field closure domains, since the sample is nearly saturated. Small jumps were observed in the magnetization curves corresponding to the domain wall nucleation and annihilation, which can be a source of head noise. It was also observed that the effective center of magnetic pole shifts with increasing field.

The feasibility of high track density recording in a perpendicular magnetic recording system has been investigated. The properties of the magnetic field of a single pole type (SPT) head having a narrow track width were studied by using a large scale model of a head and a medium. The y-field gradient of the SPT head near the track edge is steeper than the x-field gradient of a ring head, and it was confirmed by Bitter technique that the recorded track width acculately coincides with the width of the main pole of the SPT head. Perpendicular recording using the SPT head also has superior off-track characteristics and the crosstalk signal is hardly detected even at very narrow track pitches. From a magnetics point of view, no problems exist in narrowing the track width of the SPT head in perpendicular recording. Narrow track recording and reproducing with SPT head of only 6.5 μm in track width could be achieved with sufficient signal to noise ratio in perpendicular flexible disk systems.

Although previous studies have shown that a magnetic field can drastically alter drainage in soap films containing particles responsive to a magnetic field, which we refer to as magnetic soap films, it is yet to be understood whether a magnetic field may be able to control the rate of drainage and film stability. Furthermore, the effect of a magnetic field on key drainage mechanisms, such as marginal regeneration, is unknown. An experimental investigation involving interferometry is conducted here to develop further understanding of the behavior of horizontal soap films containing magnetite nanoparticles. Three scenarios are considered: soap films, magnetic soap films, and magnetic soap films in an inhomogeneous magnetic field. In each of the three scenarios, high-resolution images capturing the time evolution of each film are acquired, and the lifetime of each film is measured. In addition, a measure of the rate of drainage and the velocities of thin patches of fluid arising from marginal regeneration are evaluated. The results suggest that a magnetic field may be able to have either a stabilizing or destabilizing effect on magnetic soap films, depending on their composition. Furthermore, applying a magnetic field to magnetic soap films alters the trajectory of thin patches of fluid arising from marginal regeneration. This study reveals how a magnetic field can be used in conjunction with magnetic particles to control the stability of soap films, which opens up the possibility for new technologies that require a fine control of film stability.

One of the reasons of a beam loss in a high power accelerator is leakage magnetic field from a magnet at a close beam line, which distorts the beam orbit and makes the beam hit the wall of the beam pipe. The most effective way to shield such leakage field is to cover the beam by the magnetic materials at the nearest space. This means that beam pipes and bellows be made of the magnetic materials. We plan to apply this method to the vacuum chambers of the beam extraction section of the J-PARC 3 GeV synchrotron, where the effect of the leakage magnetic field to the beam orbit is evident. However, there is few proven evidence of the vacuum chambers made of magnetic materials. Therefore we clarify the problems in producing beam pipes and bellows, which satisfy the magnetic and vacuum performance. In this article, we deliver the over view of the magnetic shielding project and our approaches to the problems in producing the vacuum chambers of magnetic materials.