Stochasticity in magnetic nanodevices is an essential characteristic for harnessing those devices to computing based on population coding or the building blocks of probabilistic computing, pbits. A magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ) consisting of a patterned magnetic element is considered as a promising computing unit in the concept of artificial neurons and p-bits. The comprehensive understanding of the stochasticity in the switching of patterned magnetic elements is crucial for realizing MTJ based probabilistic computing technology. In the present work, the stochastic behavior in switching process of a perpendicularly magnetized Co/Pt disk within an array was directly observed utilizing full-field soft X-ray microscopy. Within 50 repeated hysteretic cycles, the stochastic magnetization switching of individual Co/Pt disks within disk arrays is identified. We found that the stochasticity in the magnetization switching of disks considerably depends on the disk size. The stochasticity initially decreases as the disk radius gets bigger from 125 nm to 375 nm (Region I), then increases with further enlarging disk size to 625 nm (Region II). The variance of thermal fluctuation relevant to the disk size and the multi-level switching within a disk are severely involved in the observed size dependent stochasticity. This work provides the way for controlling the stochasticity in the switching of nanopatterned elements, which is a key aspect for MTJ-based probabilistic computing.

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Harmonic oscillation of spin structures is a physical phenomenon that offers great potential for applications in nanotechnologies such as nano-oscillators and bio-inspired computing. The effective tuning of oscillations over wide frequency ranges within a single ferromagnetic nanoelement is a prerequisite to realize oscillation-based nanodevices, but it has not been addressed experimentally or theoretically. Here, utilizing a vortex core structure, one of spin structures, we report a drastic change of oscillation modes over the frequency range from MHz to sub-GHz in a 100 nm-thick permalloy circular disk. Oscillation mode was found to considerably depend on the shape and dimension of the vortex core structure and various oscillation modes over a wide range of frequencies appeared with dimensional change in the vortex core structure. This work demonstrates that oscillation modes of the vortex core structure can be effectively tuned and opens a way to apply spin structures to oscillation-based technology.

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