Observation of pinning and pinning evasion dynamics of a magnetic vortex core

An understanding of the dynamics of magnetic textures as they interact with defects in the host material is critical for proposed applications that depend on controlled translation of these magnetic textures. We report on the experimental observation of magnetic vortex core (VC) trajectories as they are affected by a potential energy landscape arising from defects in thin, permalloy disks. We first map the VC pinning landscape using equilibrium Kerr microscopy, and then use multiplexed time-resolved Kerr microscopy to track in-plane dynamics of a magnetic VC in response to a magnetic field pulse with ns time resolution, and several-nm spatial resolution. The initial position of the VC is set by applying a static magnetic field to shift the dynamics relative to the pinning landscape. We observe the expected spiral trajectory as the VC relaxes to equilibrium over several tens of nanoseconds. However, in the presence of strong pinning, we also observe pinning evasion as the VC trajectory is deflected due to the pinning potential, and enhanced damping as the vortex becomes pinned. We compare to a simple model based on the Thiele equation of motion to understand these results.