Dynamics of Magnetic Domain Walls Under Their Own Inertia
Moving Walls
The current-induced movement of magnetic domain walls in magnetic nanowires is a candidate for a new architecture in logic processing and memory. Controlling the motion and position of the domain walls as they move along the wires in excess of 100 meters per second requires an understanding of the processes involved. Thomas et al. (p. 1810) investigated the dynamics of magnetic domain wall motion, looking at the acceleration, constant motion, and deceleration processes in detail. The whole process could be described in terms of the inertia of the domain wall. The distance traveled was simply proportional to the length of the current pulse used to move the wall, which should simplify implementation in a circuit or network architecture.
Abstract
The motion of magnetic domain walls induced by spin-polarized current has considerable potential for use in magnetic memory and logic devices. Key to the success of these devices is the precise positioning of individual domain walls along magnetic nanowires, using current pulses. We show that domain walls move surprisingly long distances of several micrometers and relax over several tens of nanoseconds, under their own inertia, when the current stimulus is removed. We also show that the net distance traveled by the domain wall is exactly proportional to the current pulse length because of the lag derived from its acceleration at the onset of the pulse. Thus, independent of its inertia, a domain wall can be accurately positioned using properly timed current pulses.
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Supplementary Material
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Science
Volume 330 | Issue 6012
24 December 2010
24 December 2010
Copyright
Copyright © 2010, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Submission history
Received: 7 September 2010
Accepted: 16 November 2010
Published in print: 24 December 2010
Acknowledgments
We thank S.-H. Yang, X. Jiang, and B. Hughes for useful discussions and help with sample fabrication.
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- Anomalous spin-orbit torque switching due to field-like torque–assisted domain wall reflection, Science Advances, 3, 4, (2017)./doi/10.1126/sciadv.1603099
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