Ferromagnetic vortex core switching at elevated temperatures

An approach for the investigation of vortex core switching is presented. Thermal effects up to the Curie point are included in a micromagnetic framework based on the recently developed Landau-Lifshitz-Bloch equation. In this approach it is easier to avoid numerical discretization artifacts, commonly present when a Bloch point is mediating the switching process. Switching in thin circular permalloy disks caused by the application of a slowly increasing magnetic field oriented orthogonally to the disk is considered. An energy barrier which can be overcome by thermal fluctuations is taken into account, leading to a strong influence of the temperature on the switching field. In particular, the switching field goes to zero at a significantly smaller temperature than the Curie temperature. The deduced nucleation volume is smaller than the typical grain size in permalloy.