Viewpoint article in Physics about nanoGUNE publication
The article Cumulative minor loop growth in Co/Pt and Co/Pd multilayers, co-authored by Andreas Berger, nanoGUNE’s Research Director and Leader of the Nanomagnetism group, was the selected topic of a Viewpoint article in the journal Physics, in which the American Physical Society (APS) highlights exceptional papers from its journals. Only about 100 articles out of the 18,000, which the APS publishes annually, are selected by an editorial committee as topics for Viewpoint articles to alert a broader audience to major achievements
The article itself reports the existence of cumulative growth in hysteresis loops upon multiple field cycling for two different materials (Co/Pt and Co/Pd thin film multilayers), giving rise to an increase in hysteresis loss of up to 350%. Although changes in hysteresis loops have been described in the literature before, they were only very small compared with the large effect described in the article. This growth is explained in the article in terms of the successive accumulation of nucleation domains, a hypothesis that is confirmed through Kerr microscopy imaging.
The Viewpoint, written by Prof. Chris Leighton from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science of the University of Minnesota, stresses the important consequences of this work for analysis methods based on hysteresis loop measurements, and its pioneering and stimulating role for future research in this field.
The journal Physics highlights exceptional papers from all APS journals in order to help active researchers and the interested broader audience to stay informed about the most important developments in physics. Each week, an editorial committee chooses two papers that merit this treatment, aided by referee comments and internal discussions, and ask a leading international expert to prepare a Viewpoint article.
A. Berger, S. Mangin, J. McCord, O.
Hellwig and E. E. Fullerton
Phys. Rev. B 82, 104423 (2010)