Electric-field control of domain wall nucleation and pinning in a metallic ferromagnet

The electric (E) field control of magnetic properties opens the prospects of an alternative to magnetic field or electric current activation to control magnetization. Multilayers with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) have proven to be particularly sensitive to the influence of an E-field due to the interfacial origin of their anisotropy. In these systems, E-field effects have been recently applied to assist magnetization switching and control domain wall (DW) velocity. Here we report on two new applications of the E-field in a similar material : controlling DW nucleation and stopping DW propagation at the edge of the electrode

Domain wall tilting in the presence of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in out-of-plane magnetized magnetic nanotracks

We show that the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) can lead to a tilting of the domain wall (DW) surface in perpendicularly magnetized magnetic nanotracks when DW dynamics is driven by an easy axis magnetic field or a spin polarized current. The DW tilting affects the DW dynamics for large DMI and the tilting relaxation time can be very large as it scales with the square of the track width. The results are well explained by an analytical model based on a Lagrangian approach where the DMI and the DW tilting are included. We propose a simple way to estimate the DMI in a magnetic multilayers by measuring the dependence of the DW tilt angle on a transverse static magnetic field. Our results shed light on the current induced DW tilting observed recently in Co/Ni multilayers with inversion asymmetry, and further support the presence of DMI in these systems.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, 1 Supplementary Material

On Finslerized Absolute Parallelism spaces

The aim of the present paper is to construct and investigate a Finsler structure within the framework of a Generalized Absolute Parallelism space (GAP-space). The Finsler structure is obtained from the vector fields forming the parallelization of the GAP-space. The resulting space, which we refer to as a Finslerized Parallelizable space, combines within its geometric structure the simplicity of GAP-geometry and the richness of Finsler geometry, hence is potentially more suitable for applications and especially for describing physical phenomena. A study of the geometry of the two structures and their interrelation is carried out. Five connections are introduced and their torsion and curvature tensors derived. Some special Finslerized Parallelizable spaces are singled out. One of the main reasons to introduce this new space is that both Absolute Parallelism and Finsler geometries have proved effective in the formulation of physical theories, so it is worthy to try to build a more general geometric structure that would share the benefits of both geometries.Comment: Some references added and others removed, PACS2010, Typos corrected, Amendemrnts and revisions performe

Magnetic domain wall motion in a nanowire: depinning and creep

The domain wall motion in a magnetic nanowire is examined theoretically in the regime where the domain wall driving force is weak and its competition against disorders is assisted by thermal agitations. Two types of driving forces are considered; magnetic field and current. While the field induces the domain wall motion through the Zeeman energy, the current induces the domain wall motion by generating the spin transfer torque, of which effects in this regime remain controversial. The spin transfer torque has two mutually orthogonal vector components, the adiabatic spin transfer torque and the nonadiabatic spin transfer torque. We investigate separate effects of the two components on the domain wall depinning rate in one-dimensional systems and on the domain wall creep velocity in two-dimensional systems, both below the Walker breakdown threshold. In addition to the leading order contribution coming from the field and/or the nonadiabatic spin transfer torque, we find that the adiabatic spin transfer torque generates corrections, which can be of relevance for an unambiguous analysis of experimental results. For instance, it is demonstrated that the neglect of the corrections in experimental analysis may lead to incorrect evaluation of the nonadiabaticity parameter. Effects of the Rashba spin-orbit coupling on the domain wall motion are also analyzed.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure

Layer thickness dependence of the current induced effective field vector in Ta|CoFeB|MgO

The role of current induced effective magnetic field in ultrathin magnetic heterostructures is increasingly gaining interest since it can provide efficient ways of manipulating magnetization electrically. Two effects, known as the Rashba spin orbit field and the spin Hall spin torque, have been reported to be responsible for the generation of the effective field. However, quantitative understanding of the effective field, including its direction with respect to the current flow, is lacking. Here we show vector measurements of the current induced effective field in Ta|CoFeB|MgO heterostructrures. The effective field shows significant dependence on the Ta and CoFeB layers' thickness. In particular, 1 nm thickness variation of the Ta layer can result in nearly two orders of magnitude difference in the effective field. Moreover, its sign changes when the Ta layer thickness is reduced, indicating that there are two competing effects that contribute to the effective field. The relative size of the effective field vector components, directed transverse and parallel to the current flow, varies as the Ta thickness is changed. Our results illustrate the profound characteristics of just a few atomic layer thick metals and their influence on magnetization dynamics

Evaluation of continuous improvement programmes

The study began with the problem posed by an organisation for a group of researchers in the UK. There was a need to carry out an in-depth study to evaluate the continuous improvement programmes in the context of Lean Construction, and the following question emerged: How to evaluate the continuous improvement programme? This paper aims to understand how the literature on continuous improvement, including quality circles (QCs), small group activities (SGAs), and continuous improvement cells (CICs), can help to conduct the evaluation of continuous improvement programmes. The paper includes a literature review to gain an understanding of the problem from a theoretical perspective. Continuous improvement techniques are assessed in the framework of the TFV theory, with the main focus on the flow and the waste concepts. A logic model framework is used to synthesize the literature review findings and to establish an initial proposal for the evaluation of continuous improvement programmes in the Lean Construction context. This paper does not include any empirical study or actual measure and cannot ascertain the definitive benefits of continuous improvement techniques. Also, the paper does not propose any definitive procedure on how to evaluate continuous improvement techniques

Jacobi stability of the vacuum in the static spherically symmetric brane world models

We analyze the stability of the structure equations of the vacuum in the brane world models, by using both the linear (Lyapunov) stability analysis, and the Jacobi stability analysis, the Kosambi-Cartan-Chern (KCC) theory. In the brane world models the four dimensional effective Einstein equations acquire extra terms, called dark radiation and dark pressure, respectively, which arise from the embedding of the 3-brane in the bulk. Generally, the spherically symmetric vacuum solutions of the brane gravitational field equations, have properties quite distinct as compared to the standard black hole solutions of general relativity. We close the structure equations by assuming a simple linear equation of state for the dark pressure. In this case the vacuum is Jacobi stable only for a small range of values of the proportionality constant relating the dark pressure and the dark radiation. The unstable trajectories on the brane behave chaotically, in the sense that after a finite radial distance it would be impossible to distinguish the trajectories that were very near each other at an initial point. Hence the Jacobi stability analysis offers a powerful method for constraining the physical properties of the vacuum on the brane.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in PR