Experimental demonstration of basic mechanisms of magnetization reversal in magnetic microwires

We report on the magneto-optical study of surface magnetization reversal in glass covered Co-rich microwires. Four different mechanisms of magnetization reversal were found to exist, depending on external magnetic field configuration. An analysis of the results obtained was performed using the theoretical model which proposes the existence of four magnetization states with different chirality. This model was developed previously to describe current-induced switching in wires with variable inner core radius. The co-existence of stable and meta-stable helical magnetic states on the microwire surface is the basic reason for the variety of mechanisms observed for the magnetization reversal.