Magnetic domain-wall motion study under an electric field in a Finemet®Finemet® thin film on flexible substrate

•Elastic strain effect on the magnetic domain structure of a Finemet/Kapton is investigated.•External loading is applied thanks to a piezo-actuator on which the sample is glued.•The amount of strains was measured by the Digital Image Correlation technique.•Magnetic Force Microscopy showed high mobility of magnetic stripes domains.•Bending, curving and branching of domains go into maze-like pattern.

We study the influence of applied in-plane elastic strains on the static magnetic configuration of a 530 nm magnetostrictive FeCuNbSiB (Finemet®)(Finemet®) thin film. The in-plane strains are induced via the application of a voltage to a piezoelectric actuator on which the film/substrate system was glued. A quantitative characterization of the voltage dependence of the induced-strain at the surface of the film was performed using a digital image correlation technique. Magnetic Force Microscopy (MFM) images at remanence (H=0 Oe and U=0 V) clearly reveal the presence of weak stripe domains. The effect of the voltage-induced strain shows the existence of a voltage threshold value for the strike configuration break. For a maximum strain of εXX~0.5×10−3εXX~0.5×10−3 we succeed in destabilizing the stripes configuration helping the setting up of a complete homogeneous magnetic pattern.