Control of closure domain state circulation in coupled triangular permalloy elements using MFM tip

We demonstrate experimentally and numerically the control of magnetization circulation of the closure domain state in thin permalloy squares divided diagonally into four dipolar-coupled isosceles triangles. The control over the magnetization circulation was achieved by the mutual application of a suitable external in-plane magnetic field and interaction with a magnetic force microscopy (MFM) tip. Numerical simulations confirm that the proposed switching protocol is valid for the broad range of MFM tips. Experiments performed on four diagonally cut squares show that this method is robust against slight imperfections in the fabrication process. Moreover, by varying the polarity of the applied field and the direction of the MFM scanning, proper symmetry response of the switching method is observed.