Stabilizing Stripe Domain by Grooving Garnet Film

The possibility of forming grooves in garnet film to stabilize many parallel stripe domains at once was investigated experimentally. Grooves of width 4 to 5 µm and spaced at pitches of from 10 to 20 µm were formed by photolithography and ion milling, and various bias fields and in-plane magnetic fields were applied. Though stripe domains could be formed within the grooves, and could be made to bulge outward on one side, it was found difficult to generate stripe domains which extended outward on both sides, surrounding the groove.