Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Across the fields of magnetism, microelectronics, optics, and others, engineered local variations in material properties can yield groundbreaking functionalities that play a crucial role in enabling future technologies. One-dimensional lateral gradients in material properties give rise to a plethora of new effects in thin-film magnetic systems. However, extending such gradient-induced behaviors to two dimensions has been challenging to realize experimentally. Here, we demonstrate the creation of two-dimensional complex patterns with continuous variations in magnetic anisotropy, interlayer exchange coupling, and ferrimagnetic compensation at the mesoscopic scale in numerous application-relevant magnetic materials. We exploit our engineered gradients in material properties to demonstrate novel magnetic functionalities, including the creation of a spin wave band pass filter and an architecture for passively resetting the position of a magnetic domain wall. Our results highlight the exciting new physics and device applications enabled by two-dimensional gradients in thin film properties.
Source: Nature Communications
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $6,990
Awards: International, Interdisciplinary & Intersectoral Postdoctoral Fellowships at the Paul Scherrer Institut, G1794797987, Pulsed laser deposition of thin films for renewable energy conversion and energy storage, G434337789, G5578714457, Flexoelectric effect: a new pathway to sustainable energy conversion and storage
OpenAlex ID: W4417154590