Electrode Design for Anti-Parallel Magnetization Alignment in Nanogap Devices

The ability to manipulate the relative magnetization alignment between ferromagnetic source and drain electrodes, attached to a molecule or small quantum dot, is a prerequisite for a number of spintronic device applications. The influence of electrode shape and field orientation on pair-wise magnetization reversal mechanisms in nanogap and point-contact structures is investigated here using micromagnetic simulations. A favorable device geometry and setup are identified for enabling planar, monodomain source and drain electrodes with a magnetization alignment that may be controllably switched between a parallel and anti-parallel configuration.