Localized domain wall nucleation dynamics in asymmetric ferromagnetic rings revealed by direct time-resolved magnetic imaging

We report time-resolved observations of field-induced domain wall nucleation in asymmetric ferromagnetic rings using single direction field pulses and rotating fields. We show that the asymmetric geometry of a ring allows for controlling the position of nucleation events, when a domain wall is nucleated by a rotating magnetic field. Direct observation by scanning transmission x-ray microscopy (STXM) reveals that the nucleation of domain walls occurs through the creation of transient ripplelike structures. This magnetization state is found to exhibit a surprisingly high reproducibility even at room temperature and we determine the combinations of field strengths and field directions that allow for reliable nucleation of domain walls and directly quantify the stability of the magnetic states. Our analysis of the processes occurring during field induced domain wall nucleation shows how the effective fields determine the nucleation location reproducibly, which is a key prerequisite toward using domain walls for spintronic devices.