Ordered arrays of magnetic nanowires investigated by polarized small-angle neutron scattering

Polarized small-angle neutron scattering (PSANS) experimental results obtained on arrays of ferromagnetic Co nanowires (phi approximate to 13 nm) embedded in self-organized alumina (Al2O3) porous matrices are reported. The triangular array of aligned nanowires is investigated as a function of the external magnetic field with a view to determine experimentally the real space magnetization (M) over right arrow((r) over right arrow) distribution inside the material during the magnetic hysteresis cycle. The observation of field-dependentSANSintensities allows us to characterize the influence of magnetostatic fields. The PSANS experimental data are compared to magnetostatic simulations. These results evidence that PSANS is a technique able to address real-space magnetization distributions in nanostructured magnetic systems. We show that beyond structural information (shape of the objects, two-dimensional organization) already accessible with nonpolarized SANS, using polarized neutrons as the incident beam provides information on the magnetic form factor and stray fields mu H-0(d) distribution in between nanowires.