Magnetic Domain Wall Networked Films – Configurational Switching for Tunable Magnetization Dynamics by Perforated Thin Films

Abstract Setting the magnetization and its properties in magnetic materials and films is of the utmost fundamental and technological importance for magnetic applications and devices. Magnetic permeabilities in a material are generally defined by the acting magnetic anisotropies together with an applied magnetic field. Here, deterministic switching of the effective dynamic magnetic properties is demonstrated by tunable networks of magnetic domain walls. By perforating magnetic films, a reversible switching between different magnetization states is achieved. Due to the resulting local effective dynamic fields for the changed domain configurations, different zero‐field permeability spectra are attained for the same material structure. Using local configurational magnetic resonances confined by magnetic domain walls, deterministic switchable bimodal dynamic behavior is achieved. Dynamic magnetooptical Kerr microscopy with picosecond temporal resolution proves that the varying periodic magnetic domain configurations are responsible for the dynamic magnetic bistability. In particular, the field‐free precessional magnetic response can be reproducibly switched between 1.3 and 2.3 GHz. The magnetization dynamics can be modified by small interventions in a repeatable manner beyond fixed material and structural properties. The described fundamental mechanism enables to design new energy efficient configurational microwave devices by switching between zero‐field magnetic arrangements.