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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mitchell, Liam K., Brown, Benjamin J., Xiao, Gang
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.01133
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author Mitchell, Liam K.
Brown, Benjamin J.
Xiao, Gang
author_facet Mitchell, Liam K.
Brown, Benjamin J.
Xiao, Gang
contents Disorder in magnetic materials prevents reliable control of spin textures and constrains their integration into spintronic devices. Existing methods access disorder only indirectly through external imaging probes or bulk transport measurements, leaving the internal energy landscape inaccessible. We introduce an intrinsic magnetic microscopy method in which a topological spin texture serves as a mobile probe of disorder, directly mapping energy landscapes inside multilayer devices without probe-sample separation. Using a ~10-nm magnetic vortex core confined within a magnetic tunnel junction, we track its displacement with nanometer-scale sensitivity to resolve intrinsic and engineered defect-induced potentials and directly quantify local pinning forces. This framework establishes spin textures as internal spectroscopic probes of disorder and enables quantitative engineering of pinning structures in functional magnetic systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_01133
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Intrinsic topological spin probes for electrical imaging of nanoscale energy landscapes
Mitchell, Liam K.
Brown, Benjamin J.
Xiao, Gang
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Disorder in magnetic materials prevents reliable control of spin textures and constrains their integration into spintronic devices. Existing methods access disorder only indirectly through external imaging probes or bulk transport measurements, leaving the internal energy landscape inaccessible. We introduce an intrinsic magnetic microscopy method in which a topological spin texture serves as a mobile probe of disorder, directly mapping energy landscapes inside multilayer devices without probe-sample separation. Using a ~10-nm magnetic vortex core confined within a magnetic tunnel junction, we track its displacement with nanometer-scale sensitivity to resolve intrinsic and engineered defect-induced potentials and directly quantify local pinning forces. This framework establishes spin textures as internal spectroscopic probes of disorder and enables quantitative engineering of pinning structures in functional magnetic systems.
title Intrinsic topological spin probes for electrical imaging of nanoscale energy landscapes
topic Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.01133