We study the effect of disorder on the dynamics of a transverse domain wall in ferromagnetic nanostrips, driven either by magnetic fields or spin-polarized currents, by performing a large ensemble of graphics processing unit-accelerated micromagnetic simulations. Disorder is modeled by including small, randomly distributed nonmagnetic voids in the system. Studying the domain wall velocity as a function of the applied field and current density reveals fundamental differences in the domain wall dynamics induced by these two modes of driving: For the field-driven case, we identify two different domain wall pinning mechanisms, operating below and above the Walker breakdown, respectively, whereas for the current-driven case pinning is absent above the Walker breakdown. Increasing the disorder strength induces a larger Walker breakdown field and current, and leads to decreased and increased domain wall velocities at the breakdown field and current, respectively. Furthermore, for adiabatic spin-transfer torque, the intrinsic pinning mechanism is found to be suppressed by disorder. We explain these findings within the one-dimensional model in terms of an effective damping parameter α* increasing with the disorder strength.

Effect of disorder on transverse domain wall dynamics in magnetic nanostrips / Van de Wiele, B; Laurson, L; Durin, Gianfranco. - In: PHYSICAL REVIEW. B, CONDENSED MATTER AND MATERIALS PHYSICS. - ISSN 1098-0121. - 86:(2012), p. 144415. [10.1103/PhysRevB.86.144415]

Effect of disorder on transverse domain wall dynamics in magnetic nanostrips

DURIN, GIANFRANCO
2012

Abstract

We study the effect of disorder on the dynamics of a transverse domain wall in ferromagnetic nanostrips, driven either by magnetic fields or spin-polarized currents, by performing a large ensemble of graphics processing unit-accelerated micromagnetic simulations. Disorder is modeled by including small, randomly distributed nonmagnetic voids in the system. Studying the domain wall velocity as a function of the applied field and current density reveals fundamental differences in the domain wall dynamics induced by these two modes of driving: For the field-driven case, we identify two different domain wall pinning mechanisms, operating below and above the Walker breakdown, respectively, whereas for the current-driven case pinning is absent above the Walker breakdown. Increasing the disorder strength induces a larger Walker breakdown field and current, and leads to decreased and increased domain wall velocities at the breakdown field and current, respectively. Furthermore, for adiabatic spin-transfer torque, the intrinsic pinning mechanism is found to be suppressed by disorder. We explain these findings within the one-dimensional model in terms of an effective damping parameter α* increasing with the disorder strength.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11696/34415
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