Magnetic vortices induced by a moving tip

Abstract: A two-dimensional easy-plane ferromagnetic substrate, interacting with a dipolar tip which is magnetised perpendicular with respect to the easy plane is studied numerically by solving the Landau-Lifshitz Gilbert equation. Due to the symmetry of the dipolar field of the tip, in addition to the collinear structure a magnetic vortex structure becomes stable. It is robust against excitations caused by the motion of the tip. We show that for high excitations the system may perform a transition between the two states. The influence of domain walls, which may also induce this transition, is examined.