We have investigated a coupled motion of two vortex cores in ferromagnetic/nonmagnetic/ferromagnetic trilayer cynliders by means of micromagnetic simulation. Dynamic motion of two vortex with parallel and antiparallel relative chiralities of curling spins around the vortex cores have been examined after excitation by 1-ns pulsed external field. With systematic variation in non-magnetic spacer layer thickness from 0 to 20 nm, the coupling between two cores becomes significant as the spacer becomes thinner. Significant coupling leads to a nonlinear chaotic coupled motion of two vortex cores for the parallel chiralities and a faster coupled gyrotropic oscillation for the antiparallel chiralities.

Soft X-ray microscopy provides element specific magnetic imaging with a spatial resolution down to 15nm. At XM-1, the full-field soft X-ray microscope at the Advanced Light Source in Berkeley, a stroboscopic pump and probe setup has been developed to study fast magnetization dynamics in ferromagnetic elements with a time resolution of 70ps which is set by the width of the X-ray pulses from the synchrotron. Results obtained with a 2µm x 4µm x 45nm rectangular permalloy sample exhibiting a seven domain Landau pattern reveal dynamics up to several nsec after the exciting magnetic field pulse.Domain wall motion, a gyrotropic vortex motion, and a coupling between vortices in the rectangular geometry are observed.

Magnetic soft X-ray microscopy images magnetism in nanoscale systems with a spatial resolution down to 15nm provided by state-of-the-art Fresnel zone plate optics. X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (X-MCD) is used as element-specific magnetic contrast mechanism similar to photoemission electon microscopy (PEEM), however, with volume sensitivity and the ability to record the images in varying applied magnetic fields which allows to study magnetization reversal processes at fundamental length scales. Utilizing a stroboscopic pump-probe scheme one can investigate fast spin dynamics with a time resolution down to 70 ps which gives access to precessional and relaxation phenomena as well as spin torque driven domain wall dynamics in nanoscale systems. Current developments in zone plate optics aim for a spatial resolution towards 10nm and at next generation X-ray sources a time resolution in the fsec regime can be envisioned.Keywords magnetic soft X-ray microscopy, X-ray optics, Fresnel zone plates, magnetic nanostructures, magnetization reversal, fast spin dynamics, X-ray magnetic circular dichroism 3

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