Magnetoresistance of a single polycrystalline nickel nanowire

© 2019 Author(s). We report the magnetoresistance study of an individual polycrystalline nickel nanowire at temperature T = 10 K. Transport measurements have indicated a large coercive field of the nanowire, justified by the polycrystalline structure of the studied sample, where both magnetocrystalline anisotropy of randomly oriented grains and effective uniaxial anisotropy at the grain boundaries enhance the coercive field. Magnetization reversal studied with micromagnetic simulations occurs via the curling mode when vortices are nucleated and propagate along the nanowire, and propagation is inhibited at grain boundaries. The applicability of micromagnetic simulations is confirmed by a good agreement between experimental and simulated magnetoresistance curves