COUPLED WALLS IN MULTILAYER FILMS

If the thickness of an intermediate nonmagnetic layer separating two ferromagnetic layers is larger than the ferromagnetic wall thickness (order of 1 μ), only a magnetostatic interaction at the film edges exists. If the intermediate-film thickness is smaller than the wall thickness, the magnetostatic interaction of the domain walls is essential, yielding special multilayer wall configurations. If the intermediate film is thinner than that necessary for a complete exchange isolation (order of 10 nm), the wall configurations are modified by an exchange coupling between the local magnetizations of the layers. The wall configurations and their influence on the wall motion and switching behavior are reviewed in this paper. © 1968 The American Institute of Physics.