Micromagnetics of the Domain Wall Mobility in Permalloy Nanowires

The domain wall mobility in long permalloy nanowires with thicknesses of 2-20 nm and widths of 50-200 nm has been simulated. The domain wall is driven into motion by an external magnetic field and the average wall mobility is calculated after the wall has traveled 2.5 mum along the wire. The results were obtained using the three-dimensional dynamic Landau-Lifshitz equation. We find that the domain wall mobility decreases linearly up to the critical field called the Walker field. The decreasing wall mobility is related to the decrease in the dynamic domain wall length as the applied field is increased. The value of the critical field is dependent on the thickness and width of the wire. At the critical field the mobility decreases by an order of magnitude. Above the Walker field the average mobility remains relatively constant for all driving fields, while the instantaneous mobility shows regions of high mobility with long periods of almost no mobility. For large applied fields the domain wall velocity can be large even though the average mobility is low

Simulated Domain Wall Dynamics in Magnetic Nanowires

The simulated domain wall dynamics in rectangular 10 nm thick, 2000 nm long Permalloy wires of varying width is presented. In the absence of an applied field the static domain wall length is found to be linearly dependent to the width of the nanowire. As magnetic fields of increasing strength are applied along the wire’s long axis, the domain wall motion changes from a uniform reversal to a steplike reversal. The onset of the stepping motion leads to a decrease in the domain wall speed. By continuing to increase the field it is possible to decrease the time between steps increasing the domain wall speed. The critical field associated with the crossover from uniform to nonuniform reversal decreases as the wire width increases

Simulating the Maximum Domain Wall Speed in a Magnetic Nanowire

The dynamics of domain wall motion in permalloy nanowires have been simulated utilizing the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert (LLG) equation of motion. The simulation results are presented in terms of the domain wall speed for ranges of the Gilbert damping parameter alpha and nanowire width. The maximum domain wall speed is independent of alpha. The speed of the domain wall can be increased by increasing the nanowire width, but this lowers the critical field. For applied fields below the critical field, the wall moves uniformly along the wire and the speed of the wall increases with increases in the driving field. This behavior is consistent with current analytic models; however, the models overestimate both the value of the domain wall speed and the critical field

Field Induced Domain Wall Collisions in Thin Magnetic Nanowires

In a two-dimensional magnetic nanowire, it is possible to engineer collisions between two domain walls put into motion by an externally applied field. We show that the topological defects that define the domain wall can be controlled to allow for both domain wall annihilation and preservation during the collisions as long as the wire remains thin. The preservation process can be used to release pinned domain walls from notches with small applied fields

Micromagnetic Simulations on the Dependence of Gilbert Damping on Domain Wall Velocities in Magnetic Nanowires

he dependence of damping on domain wall motion and velocity in Permalloy nanowires is presented. The domain wall motion in isolated two micron long Permalloy nanowires, with a rectangular cross-section 10 nm thick and 100 nm wide, is simulated using the Landau-Lifshitz Gilbert (LLG) simulation.Interpreting LLG dynamics can be difficult due to the dependence of the results on the Gilbert damping parameter alpha. The Walker model also predicts the critical field and domain wall velocity as a function of alpha. For these combined reasons the dependence of the domain wall speeds on the damping parameter is explored

Dynamic Notch Pinning Fields for Domain Walls in Ferromagnetic Nanowires

Artificial defects such as notches and antinotches are often attached to magnetic nanowires to serve as trapping (pinning) sites for domain walls. The magnetic field necessary to release (depin) the trapped domain wall from the notch depends on the type, geometric shape, and dimensions of the defect but is typically quite large. Conversely we show here that for some notches and antinotches there exists a much smaller driving field for which a moving domain wall will travel past the defect without becoming trapped. This dynamic pinning field also depends on the type, geometric shape and defect dimensions. Micromagnetic simulation is used to investigate both the static and dynamic pinning fields and their relation to the topologic structure of the domain wall

Normal Mode Mixing and Ferromagnetic Resonance Linewidth

The normal modes of an inhomogeneous thin film are obtained by diagonalization of the perturbed Hamiltonian. The resulting modes are mixtures of the spin-wave modes and the uniform mode. We find that the ferromagnetic resonance intensity spectrum of the diagonalized system has a Lorentzian profile, and that the results correspond to the two-magnon model for weak perturbations. For stronger perturbations, the density of states is smoothed, and the spectrum becomes asymmetric due to the low-frequency cutoff of the spin-wave manifold. The technique is expected to be valid for perturbation amplitudes that are large enough to invalidate the assumptions of the two-magnon model

Dependence of Domain Wall Structure for Low Field Injection into Magnetic Nanowires

Micromagnetic simulation is used to model the injection of a domain wall into a magnetic nanowire with field strengths less than the so-called Walker field. This ensures fast, reliable motion of the wall. When the wire is located at the edge of a small injecting disk, a bias field used to control the orientation of the domain wall can reduce the pinning potential of the structure. The low field injection is explained by a simple model, which relies on the topological nature of a domain wall. The technique can quickly inject multiple domain walls with a known magnetic structure

Application of Local Transverse Field for Domain Wall Control in Ferromagnetic Nanowire Arrays

In ferromagnetic nanowire arrays, where each wire contains multiple domain walls, it will be necessary to select an individual domain wall (DW) to move. In the field driven DW case, the field is typically applied globally affecting all of the domain walls in the system. We present micromagnetic simulation results demonstrating selectivity and control of an individual DW in such an array of nanowires using a combination of global and locally generated magnetic fields. Arranging the orientation of the local field allows for selectivity of a specific DW and its controllable movement to a new location