5,888 research outputs found
Different steady states for spin currents in noncollinear multilayers
We find there are at least two different steady states for transport across
noncollinear magnetic multilayers. In the conventional one there is a
discontinuity in the spin current across the interfaces which has been
identified as the source of current induced magnetic reversal; in the one
advocated herein the spin torque arises from the spin accumulation transverse
to the magnetization of a magnetic layer. These two states have quite different
attributes which should be discerned by current experiments.Comment: 8 pages, no figure. Accepted for publication in Journal of Physics:
Condensed Matte
The steady state in noncollinear magnetic multilayers
There are at least two different putative steady state solutions for current
across noncollinear magnetic multilayers; one has a discontinuity in the spin
current at the interface the other is continuous. We compare the resistance of
the two and find the solution with the continuous spin currents is lower. By
using the entropic principle we can state that this solution is a better
estimate of the resistance for a noncollinear magneticComment: 14 pages, 4 figures,Submitted to Physical Review
Magnetoresistance due to Domain Walls in Micron Scale Fe Wires with Stripe Domains
The magnetoresistance (MR) associated with domain boundaries has been
investigated in microfabricated bcc Fe (0.65 to 20 m linewidth) wires with
controlled stripe domains. Domain configurations have been characterized using
magnetic force microscopy. MR measurements as a function of field angle,
temperature and domain configuration are used to estimate MR contributions due
to resistivity anisotropy and domain walls. Evidence is presented that domain
boundaries enhance the conductivity in such microstructures over a broad range
of temperatures (1.5 K to 80 K).Comment: 8 pages, 3 postscript figures, and 2 jpg images (Fig 1 and 2) to
appear in IEEE Transactions on Magnetics (Fall 1998
The role of symmetry on interface states in magnetic tunnel junctions
When an electron tunnels from a metal into the barrier in a magnetic tunnel
junction it has to cross the interface. Deep in the metal the eigenstates for
the electron can be labelled by the point symmetry group of the bulk but around
the interface this symmetry is reduced and one has to use linear combinations
of the bulk states to form the eigenstates labelled by the irreducible
representations of the point symmetry group of the interface. In this way there
can be states localized at the interface which control tunneling. The
conclusions as to which are the dominant tunneling states are different from
that conventionally found.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, accepted in PRB, v2: reference 3 complete
Negative Domain Wall Contribution to the Resistivity of Microfabricated Fe Wires
The effect of domain walls on electron transport has been investigated in
microfabricated Fe wires (0.65 to 20 linewidths) with controlled stripe
domains. Magnetoresistance (MR) measurements as a function of domain wall
density, temperature and the angle of the applied field are used to determine
the low field MR contributions due to conventional sources in ferromagnetic
materials and that due to the erasure of domain walls. A negative domain wall
contribution to the resistivity is found. This result is discussed in light of
a recent theoretical study of the effect of domain walls on quantum transport.Comment: 7 pages, 4 postscript figures and 1 jpg image (Fig. 1
Influence of s-d interfacial scattering on the magnetoresistance of magnetic tunnel junctions
We propose the two-band s-d model to describe theoretically a diffuse regime
of the spin-dependent electron transport in magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJ's)
of the form F/O/F where F's are 3d transition metal ferromagnetic layers and O
is the insulating spacer. We aim to explain the strong interface sensitivity of
the tunneling properties of MTJ's and investigate the influence of electron
scattering at the nonideal interfaces on the degradation of the TMR magnitude.
The generalized Kubo formalism and the Green's functions method were used to
calculate the conductance of the system. The vertex corrections to the
conductivity were found with the use of "ladder" approximation combined with
the coherent-potential approximation (CPA) that allowed to consider the case of
strong electron scattering. It is shown that the Ward identity is satisfied in
the framework of this approximation that provides the necessary condition for a
conservation of a tunneling current. Based on the known results of ab-initio
calculations of the TMR for ballistic junctions, we assume that exchange split
quasi-free s-like electrons with the density of states being greater for the
majority spin sub-band give the main contribution to the TMR effect. We show
that, due to interfacial inter-band scattering, the TMR can be substantially
reduced even down to zero value. This is related to the fact that delocalized
quasi-free electrons can scatter into the strongly localized d sub-band with
the density of states at the Fermi energy being larger for minority spins
compared to majority spins. It is also shown that spin-flip electron scattering
on the surface magnons within the interface leads to a further decrease of the
TMR at finite temperature.Comment: REVTeX4, 20 pages, 9 figures, 1 table, submitted to Phys.Rev.B; In
Version 2 the text is substantially improved, the main results and
conclusions left the sam
Shape-Dependent Thermodynamics and Non-Local Hydrodynamics in a Non-Gibbsian Steady-State of a Drift-Diffusion System
Shape-dependent thermodynamics and non-local hydrodynamics are argued to
occur in dissipative steady states of driven diffusive systems. These
predictions are confirmed by numerical simulations. Unlike power-law
correlations, these phenomena cannot be explained by a hypothesis of
``criticality''. Instead, they require the effective Hamiltonian of the system
to contain very long-range potentials, making the invariant probability
measures formally ``non-Gibbsian''.Comment: 4 pages, Latex Version 2.09, 1 Postscript figur
Mechanisms of spin-polarized current-driven magnetization switching
The mechanisms of the magnetization switching of magnetic multilayers driven
by a current are studied by including exchange interaction between local
moments and spin accumulation of conduction electrons. It is found that this
exchange interaction leads to two additional terms in the
Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation: an effective field and a spin torque. Both
terms are proportional to the transverse spin accumulation and have comparable
magnitudes
Path Integral Approach to Strongly Nonlinear Composite
We study strongly nonlinear disordered media using a functional method. We
solve exactly the problem of a nonlinear impurity in a linear host and we
obtain a Bruggeman-like formula for the effective nonlinear susceptibility.
This formula reduces to the usual Bruggeman effective medium approximation in
the linear case and has the following features: (i) It reproduces the weak
contrast expansion to the second order and (ii) the effective medium exponent
near the percolation threshold are , , where is the
nonlinearity exponent. Finally, we give analytical expressions for previously
numerically calculated quantities.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Modification of the Landau-Lifshitz Equation in the Presence of a Spin-Polarized Current in CMR and GMR Materials
We derive a continuum equation for the magnetization of a conducting
ferromagnet in the presence of a spin-polarized current. Current effects enter
in the form of a topological term in the Landau-Lifshitz equation . In the
stationary situation the problem maps onto the motion of a classical charged
particle in the field of a magnetic monopole. The spatial dependence of the
magnetization is calculated for a one-dimensional geometry and suggestions for
experimental observation are made. We also consider time-dependent solutions
and predict a spin-wave instability for large currents.Comment: 4 two-column pages in RevTex, 3 ps-figure
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