19 research outputs found
Non-adiabatic spin torque investigated using thermally activated magnetic domain wall dynamics
Using transmission electron microscopy, we investigate the thermally
activated motion of domain walls (DWs) between two positions in permalloy
(Ni80Fe20) nanowires at room temperature. We show that this purely thermal
motion is well described by an Arrhenius law, allowing for a description of the
DW as a quasi-particle in a 1D potential landscape. By injecting small
currents, the potential is modified, allowing for the determination of the
non-adiabatic spin torque: the non-adiabatic coefficient is 0.010 +/- 0.004 for
a transverse DW and 0.073 +/- 0.026 for a vortex DW. The larger value is
attributed to the higher magnetization gradients present
Domain-wall depinning assisted by pure spin currents
We study the depinning of domain walls by pure diffusive spin currents in a
nonlocal spin valve structure based on two ferromagnetic permalloy elements
with copper as the nonmagnetic spin conduit. The injected spin current is
absorbed by the second permalloy structure with a domain wall and from the
dependence of the wall depinning field on the spin current density we find an
efficiency of 6*10^{-14}T/(A/m^2), which is more than an order of magnitude
larger than for conventional current induced domain wall motion. Theoretically
we reproduce this high efficiency, which arises from the surface torques
exerted by the absorbed spin current that lead to efficient depinning.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let
Domain-wall induced large magnetoresistance effects at zero applied field in ballistic nanocontacts
Relationship between nonadiabaticity and damping in permalloy studied by current induced spin structure transformations
By direct imaging we determine spin structure changes in Permalloy wires and disks due to spin transfer torque as well as the critical current densities for different domain wall types. Periodic domain wall transformations from transverse to vortex walls and vice versa are observed, and the transformation mechanism occurs by vortex core displacement perpendicular to the wire. The results imply that the nonadiabaticity parameter ÎČ does not equal the damping α, in agreement with recent theoretical predictions. The vortex core motion perpendicular to the current is further studied in disks revealing that the displacement in opposite directions can be attributed to different polarities of the vortex core
Quantitative determination of vortex core dimensions in head-to-head domain walls using off-axis electron holography
Quantitative Determination of the Nonlinear Pinning Potential for a Magnetic Domain Wall
Using microwave currents, we excite resonances of geometrically confined pinned domain walls, detecting the resonance by the rectification of the microwave current. By applying magnetic fields, the resonance frequency of the domain wall oscillator can be tuned over a wide range. Increasing the power leads to a redshift due to the nonlinearity of the system. From this frequency shift, we directly deduce the quantitative shape of the potential, so that a complete characterization of the pinning potential is obtained
Magnetoresistance measurement of tailored Permalloy nanocontacts
We study the evolution of the magnetoresistance (MR) in Permalloy nanocontacts prepared by controlled low-temperature UHV electromigration in nanoring segment structures with constrictions. The ring geometry allows for the controlled and reproducible positioning of a domain wall in the nanocontacts. We observe three different resistance levels, corresponding to distinct domain-wall positions. A change in the sign of the MR difference, between a domain wall at the constriction and a domain wall next to the constriction, occurs with decreasing constriction width. This is in line with our micromagnetic simulations, where the MR is calculated based on the anisotropic MR (AMR) effect
Quantitative determination of vortex core dimensions in head-to-head domain walls using off-axis electron holography
In this paper, we present a complete three-dimensional characterization of vortex core spin structures, which is important for future magnetic data storage based on vortex cores in disks and in wires. Using electron holography to examine vortices in patterned Permalloy devices we have quantitatively measured the in-plane and out-of-plane magnetization of a vortex core. Observed core widths and integrated phase shifts agree well with those derived from micromagnetic simulations