Researchers develop a super-hierarchical and explanatory analysis of magnetization reversal that could improve the reliability of spintronics devices. The researchers, led by Professor Masato Kotsugi from Japan's Tokyo University of Science, have developed an AI-based method for analyzing material functions in a more quantitative manner.
The team quantified the complexity of the magnetic domain structures using persistent homology, a mathematical tool used in computational topology that measures topological features of data persisting across multiple scales. The team further visualized the magnetization reversal process in two-dimensional space using principal component analysis, a data analysis procedure that summarizes large datasets by smaller “summary indices,” facilitating better visualization and analysis.
As Prof. Kotsugi explains, “The topological data analysis can be used for explaining the complex magnetization reversal process and evaluating the stability of the magnetic domain structure quantitatively.”
The team discovered that slight changes in the structure invisible to the human eye that indicated a hidden feature dominating the metastable/stable reversal processes can be detected by this analysis. They also successfully determined the cause of the branching of the macroscopic reversal process in the original microscopic magnetic domain structure.
The novelty of this research lies in its ability to connect magnetic domain microstructures and macroscopic magnetic functions freely across hierarchies by applying the latest mathematical advances in topology and machine learning. This enables the detection of subtle microscopic changes and subsequent prediction of stable/metastable states in advance that was hitherto impossible.
“This super-hierarchical and explanatory analysis would improve the reliability of spintronics devices and our understanding of stochastic/deterministic magnetization reversal phenomena,” says Prof. Kotsugi.
Interestingly, the new algorithm, with its superior explanatory capability, can also be applied to study chaotic phenomenon as the butterfly effect. On the technological front, it could potentially improve the reliability of next generation magnetic memory writing, aid the development of new hardware for the next generation of devices.