The time and field dependence of the magnetic domain structure at magnetization reversal were investigated by Kerr microscopy in a structure consisting of a hard and a soft ferromagnetic Co/Pt multilayer stack with perpendicular anisotropy, separated by a thicker nonmagnetic Pt spacer layer. Large local inhomogeneous magnetostatic stray fields appear as soon as a nonuniform magnetic area exists within one of the stacks and induce a correlated domain structure within the other. The long range nature of this magnetostatic interaction gives rise to ultraslow dynamics even in zero applied field, i.e., it affects the long time domain stability. Due to this additional interaction field, the magnetization reversal under short magnetic field pulses differs markedly from the well-known slow dynamic behavior. Namely, in high field, the magnetization of the coupled harder layer has been observed to reverse more rapidly by domain wall motion than the softer layer alone.
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