Magnetic vortices as localized mesoscopic domain wall pinning sites

We report on the controllable pinning of domain walls in stripes with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy by magnetostatic coupling to magnetic vortices in disks located above the stripe. Pinning mechanisms and depinning fields are reported. This novel pinning strategy, which can be realized by current nanofabrication techniques, opens up new possibilities for the non-destructive control of domain wall mobility in domain wall based spintronic devices.