Cylindrical micro and nanowires: Fabrication, properties and applications

Abstract The state of the art in cylindrical nano and micro wires is reviewed with particular emphasis on the latest research trends. We analyze some of the key properties for prospective applications including magnetic anisotropy and micromagnetic structure, spin-caloritronics, domain wall dynamics and its control by transverse magnetic field and induced anisotropy, high frequency impedance and magnetic control of the electric polarizability, shape-memory and magnetocaloric effects in Heusler alloys wires. Cylindrical nanowires present specific magnetic domain configurations as complex vortex and transverse domains while the magnetization reversal typically involves propagation of Bloch-point domain walls. Such magnetic behavior offers new perspectives for applications in advanced technologies including spintronics, logic devices and novel magnetic recording media, functionalization and bioengineering and sensor devises. In particular, rapidly solidified glass-coated amorphous nanowires and submicron wires which constitute a novel class of ultrathin soft magnetic materials are attractive for future micro and nano sensors. Amorphous and nanocrystalline microwires prepared by rapid quenching from the melt can present quite peculiar magnetic properties, like spontaneous magnetic bistability associated with single and large Barkhausen jump and magnetoimpedance effect. Magnetic properties of amorphous microwires are related to the value and sign of the magnetostriction constant since the magnetoelastic anisotropy is one of the main sources of the magnetic anisotropy. As-prepared microwires with positive magnetostriction constant show generally rectangular hysteresis loops and fast domain wall propagation. In the case of low and negative magnetostriction, the wires demonstrate inclined hysteresis loops and large magnetoimpedance. To refine the magnetic structure, the easy anisotropy can be adjusted by annealing in the presence of a magnetic field and/or mechanical stress. Thus, the magnetic bistability in negative magnetostriction wires can be induced by annealing. Minimizing the magnetoelastic anisotropy either by adjusting the chemical composition with a low magnetostriction coefficient or by heat treatment is an appropriate route for enhancing the domain wall velocity. Tailoring the magnetic anisotropy by stress-annealing is also a promising method of the optimization of the domain wall dynamics in magnetic microwires. Soft magnetic properties and tunable magnetic structure of amorphous microwires are responsible for the magnetoimpedance effect, which preserves a high sensitivity up to GHz frequencies. This opens up novel applications based on the electric polarization of a finite-length microwire depending on the wire surface impedance near the antenna resonance, including embedded wireless sensing elements, self-sensing composites and selective microwave materials. Heusler alloys demonstrate the huge variety of physical properties that can be obtained by simple change in composition. Naturally, the efforts have been made to produce Heusler-based nano and micro wires to take advantage of variety of their physical properties in a miniature form. In this review, the emphasis is made on Heusler alloy glass-coated microwires.