New Technological Project

“Microhilos Magnéticos para Sensores Magnetoelásticos”

A contract of Technological Support has been signed with the Universidad Pública de Navarra (Prof. J.I. Pérez de Landazábal) concerning the development of magnetic microwires as sensing elements for magnetoelastic sensors (2021). The project is supervised by M. Vazquez.

New technological project

Magnetic Microwire Research Project

A contract has been signed with the company Bartington Instrument Ltd., United Kingdom, to develop technologically advanced magnetic microwires (2021-2022). The project is supervised by M. Vazquez and R.P del Real.

New patent

“Magnetic microwires for energy-transporting biomedical applications”

US Patent Application Pub.No. US 2021/0101016 A1; Northeastern University, Boston and CSIC

Inventors: L.H. Lewis, R. P. del Real, M. Vazquez Villalabeitia and A.N. Koppes

Methods and devices including amorphous magnetic microwires are provided for biomedical energy transfer for diagnosis or therapy, to promote cellular growth, or to deliver pharmaceutical agents. Applications of the technology include sensors, actuators and therapeutic coatings and for increasing the amount, directionally, or length of nerve growth. The technology can also be utilized for nerve regeneration, hyperthermic treatment of tumors, vascular theranostics, probing and stimulating a nerve, sensing a biological condition, catheterization and micro-actuation.

This patent application is the result of a continuous collaboration of our GNMP group with the Northeastern University of Boston.

New article

“Evidence of Skyrmion-Tube Mediated Magnetization Reversal in Modulated Nanowires”

E. Berganza, J. Marqués-Marchán, C. Bran, M. Vazquez, A. Asenjo and M. Jaafar

 Materials 14 (2021) 5671

DOI://doi.org/10.3390/ma14195671

Magnetic nanowires, as individual building blocks for spintronic devices, constitute a well-suited model to design and study magnetization reversal processes, or to tackle fundamental questions, as the presence of topologically protected magnetization textures under particular conditions. Recently, a skyrmion-tube mediated magnetization reversal process was theoretically reported in diameter modulated cylindrical nanowires where a vortex nucleates at the end of the segments with larger diameter and propagates, resulting in a first switching of the nanowire core magnetization at small fields. Here, we show experimental evidence of the so-called Bloch skyrmion-tubes, using advanced Magnetic Force Microscopy modes to image the magnetization reversal process of FeCoCu diameter modulated nanowires. By monitoring the magnetic state during applied field sweeping, a detected drop of magnetic signal at a given critical field unveils the presence of a skyrmion-tube, due to mutually compensating stray field components.

This study is a collaboration between our GNMP group and the Institute of Nanotechnology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany and the Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada and Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC), and the Instituto Nicolás Cabrera, at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.