0000000000446977
AUTHOR
Andrea Krone
Switching by Domain-Wall Automotion in Asymmetric Ferromagnetic Rings
A ring-shaped magnetic logic device offers two vortex states (clockwise and counterclockwise) to encode bits, with relative stability against external magnetic fields. The dynamics of magnetization switching in such structures, though, still need unraveling. The authors present direct experimental visualization of reproducible, robust switching in magnetic rings via domain-wall automotion, which does not require an applied field. Simulations reveal that annihilation of domain walls through automotion always occurs, with the detailed topology of the walls only influencing the dynamics locally, in line with the experimental results.
Automotive domain wall propagation in ferromagnetic rings
Automotive domain wall propagation is a self-propelling motion utilizing the energy stored in a particular energy reservoir of the spin structure to speed up domain wall beyond its equilibrium value given by external driving force and damping. Such a concept of DW motion is of great interest due to recent development of spintronic devices based on domain walls, where automotion could be used to assist or prevent domain wall pinning at low driving fields1-2. In turn, most of studies so far have been devoted to the automotion invoked by DW transformations from metastable to stable states3-4; appearing at sufficiently high magnetic fields strong and enough to trigger domain wall spin structure…
Local control of domain wall dynamics in ferromagnetic rings
Ferromagnetic nanorings are of great interest due to prospective applications in memory and logic devices based on domain wall (DW) motion.1-3A key-prerequisite for their realization is a reproducible domain wall spin structure with a well-controllable wall velocity. We have found that DW propagation in magnetic ring is characterized by non-constant vortex DW velocity even below Walker breakdown4 (as opposed to straight wires). Several studies have been devoted to the optimization of ring reversal on a global scale using out-of plane field5 or flux charges emanating from neighboring rings if placed in close proximity6. However, these methods involve DW pinning and vortex nucleation processe…
Local Domain-Wall Velocity Engineering via Tailored Potential Landscapes in Ferromagnetic Rings
One vein of spintronics research seeks to harness propagating magnetic domain walls for information processing. The authors engineer a potential landscape via local variations in a ring geometry, and image the motion of domain walls in rotating magnetic fields to quantify the contribution of the spatially varying potential to wall dynamics. Domain-wall velocity depends on ring width, being highest where the ring is widest, and such a potential thus could be selected to synchronize velocities and enable applications.
Localized domain wall nucleation dynamics in asymmetric ferromagnetic rings revealed by direct time-resolved magnetic imaging
We report time-resolved observations of field-induced domain wall nucleation in asymmetric ferromagnetic rings using single direction field pulses and rotating fields. We show that the asymmetric geometry of a ring allows for controlling the position of nucleation events, when a domain wall is nucleated by a rotating magnetic field. Direct observation by scanning transmission x-ray microscopy (STXM) reveals that the nucleation of domain walls occurs through the creation of transient ripplelike structures. This magnetization state is found to exhibit a surprisingly high reproducibility even at room temperature and we determine the combinations of field strengths and field directions that all…