Dresden 2026 – scientific programme
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TT: Fachverband Tiefe Temperaturen
TT 76: Focus Session: Curvilinear magnetism: Magnetics with nanoscale curved geometries (joint session MA/TT)
TT 76.2: Invited Talk
Thursday, March 12, 2026, 10:00–10:30, POT/0151
Combined MFM/KPFM at the Ultimate Sensitivity Limit for Probing Curvature-Engineered Micromagnetic States — •Emily Darwin1, Reshma Peremadathil Pradeep1,2, Luca Berchialla3, Daniel Rotthardt1,2, Ales Hrabec3, and Hans Hug1,2 — 1Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland — 2Department of Physics, University of Basel, 4056 Basel, Switzerland — 3aul Scherrer Institut PSI, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland
Curved substrates offer a promising route for tailoring the magnetic properties of multilayer systems, potentially stabilizing topologically non-trivial spin textures such as skyrmions. However, local variations in surface inclination can significantly affect growth conditions, altering crystallographic orientation or even disrupting the multilayer architecture.
In this study, we investigate a Pt/Co/Ru multilayer deposited on a polymer substrate patterned with nanoscale semispherical bumps using a combined single-pass Magnetic Force Microscopy (MFM) and Frequency-Modulated Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy (FM-KPFM) technique. Our system achieves unprecedented sensitivity to both magnetic and electrostatic interactions. We find that steep, near-vertical walls at the perimeter of hemispherical features locally disorder the multilayer stack, resulting in distinct changes in the contact potential difference. This disruption facilitates magnetic flux return and enables the formation of circular magnetic domains aligned with the external magnetic field on the dome tops.
Keywords: Skyrmion; Curvature-Induced; Magnetic Force Microscopy; Probe Force Microscopy; Magnet multilayer