The depinning of nanoscale magnetic textures, such as domain walls, vortices, and skyrmions, is of paramount importance for magnetic storage and information processing. We measure the time-resolved magnetic switching statistics of an individual, non-single-domain ${\mathrm{Fe}}_3{\mathrm{O}}_4$ nanoparticle using a micrometer-scale superconducting quantum interference device. A strong narrowing of the waiting-time distributions before reaching the final state is observed as compared to the exponential distribution expected for a single barrier. A model consisting of multiple barriers in series is proposed and used to understand the narrow waiting-time distributions and their evolution with magnetic field. The number of barriers is found to reduce as the thermodynamic switching field is approached and eventually, very close to it, an exponential distribution, resulting from a single barrier, is observed.

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• Magnetic vortices
• Magnetization switching
• Micromagnetism
• Magnetic nanoparticles