Magnetic domain patterns of rectangular and elliptic arrays of small permalloy elements

Magnetic domain patterns of two series of soft magnetic arrays are studied as functions of the aspect ratios. The magnetic images are obtained by using MFM with low magnetic stray field and high-coercivity MFM tips. A 30 nm thick layer of Ni80Fe20 alloy is prepared by thermal evaporation and electron beam lithography and lift-off patterning technique on a silicon substrate. The effect of the edge roughness and initial conditions on the magnetic domain patterns is compared with the results obtained by micromagnetic simulations. This comparison clearly shows that the domain structure is related to the edge roughness. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.