A study of 90° and 180° domain walls in thin (100) iron films

Abstract

A theoretical study of magnetic domain walls in thin (100) films of iron is presented. The magnetostatic effects not only contribute greatly to the wall energy but also drastically alter the wall profile. Consequently a simple magnetization variation across the wall can be assumed and the energies of 90° and 180° Bloch and Néel walls rigorously calculated. The main conclusions are that the Bloch 90° wall energy is half that of the corresponding 180° wall although the same is not true of Néel wells. Moreover it is predicted that for a wide range of thicknesses 90° Néel walls are more favoured than their Bloch counterparts. A brief comparison with experiment is given as well as informative micrographs.