Magnetic properties and spin dependent transport in engineered antidot mesostructures

Abstract

Magnetic antidot structures, formed by two-dimensional hole arrays embedded into contiguous magnetic thin film material, have been found to be of both technological and fundamental interest. This thesis attempts to further the current understanding and explore new physical phenomena on this peculiar structure. A systematic study of the magnetic and spin dependent transport properties in artificially engineered antidot arrays from micron-size down to nanoscale regime is presented. We investigate in detail, using a combination of characterization techniques and simulation tools, the effect of a wide range of physical parameters, and find that the properties of the antidot arrays are strongly dependent on parameters such as antidot density, contact geometry, film thickness, lattice geometry and film composition.