A rigorous single period micromagnetic model of stripe domains - comparison with analytics and experiment

Stripe domains in thin films form through a complex competition of perpendicular anisotropy and demagnetizing energy and are still lacking a complete micromagnetic description, despite being investigated since 50 years. This work elucidates the formation of stripe domains with a special focus on the dependence of stripe domain width on film thickness with varying ratio of the two major energy contributions. An overview and review of the most established analytical models for the calculation of this dependency is given with respect to existing experimental data as well as to new experimental data on epitaxial Fe-Co-C films with perpendicular anisotropy. Since the analytical models are limited in their predictive power and compatibility in terms of the suitable material parameter range, an effcient but rigorous micromagnetic simulation method was developed, which proved to be comparable or better than
previous models in describing experimental finding, especially for films with strongly dominating demagnetizing. Comprehensive simulations where performed to determine thickness dependent stripe width for various material parameters which can serve as a benchmark for analytical theories or can be used directly for comparison with experimental results. At a given combination of exchange constant and saturation polarization there exists a specifc thickness at which the stripe width is independent of the uniaxial anisotropy.