Magnetic structure of periodically meandered one-dimensional Fe nanowires

We study the magnetic structure of perpendicularly magnetized Fe nanowires grown on Au(788) by means of x-ray magnetic circular dichroism. The average size of ferromagnetic domains in the nanowires exponentially decreases with temperature, leading to a steeper decay in magnetization compared to nanoislands of Fe. The temperature dependence of magnetization and domain structures can be well described in terms of local atomic geometry, the number of atomic chains in nanowires, exchange coupling between adjacent spins, and magnetic anisotropy. The nonlinear coverage dependence of the activation energy for the creation of magnetic domains can be explained by overall shape of nanowires, which also implies that the magnetic switching processes are strongly shape dependent at the nanoscale.