Magnetic confinement and coupling in narrow-diameter Au–Ni nanowires

•Layered Ni–Au rods with precise dimensions were synthesized via electrochemical deposition into AAO templates.•Coupling between rod and disk shaped Ni segments was explored by varying the thickness of the Au spacers.•Magnetic hysteresis studies indicate that coupling between disk and rod magnetic easy axis can be used to control the mechanism for spin flips.

Here we examine magnetic coupling in layered magnetic/nonmagnetic nanowires created using electrochemical deposition into nanoporous templates. By utilizing reproducible and tunable deposition methods, various aspect ratios and spacing between magnetic domains were created. Low aspect ratio disks were then coupled to high aspect ratio rods to control the mechanism for spin flip in the disk component of the system. The orthogonal relationship between the magnetic easy axis of the disk and rod geometries creates a multistate system with both in-plane and out-of-plane easy axes by balancing magnetic shape anisotropy with dipole coupling between the two layers.