825 research outputs found
Thermal stability of metastable magnetic skyrmions: Entropic narrowing and significance of internal eigenmodes
We compute annihilation rates of metastable magnetic skyrmions using a form
of Langer's theory in the intermediate-to-high damping (IHD) regime. For a
N\'eel skyrmion, a Bloch skyrmion, and an antiskyrmion, we look at two possible
paths to annihilation: collapse and escape through a boundary. We also study
the effects of a curved vs. a flat boundary, a second skyrmion and a
non-magnetic defect. We find that the skyrmion's internal modes play a dominant
role in the thermally activated transitions compared to the spin-wave
excitations and that the relative contribution of internal modes depends on the
nature of the transition process. Our calculations for a small skyrmion
stabilized at zero-field show that collapse on a defect is the most probable
path. In the absence of a defect, the annihilation is largely dominated by
escape mechanisms, even though in this case the activation energy is higher
than that of collapse processes. Escape through a flat boundary is found more
probable than through a curved boundary. The potential source of stability of
metastable skyrmions is therefore found not to lie in high activation energies,
nor in the dynamics at the transition state, but comes from entropic narrowing
in the saddle point region which leads to lowered attempt frequencies. This
narrowing effect is found to be primarily associated with the skyrmion's
internal modes.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure
The dynamical response to the node defect in thermally activated remagnetization of magnetic dot array
The influence of nonmagnetic central node defect on dynamical properties of
regular square-shaped 5 x 5 segment of magnetic dot array under the thermal
activation is investigated via computer simulations. Using stochastic
Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation we simulate hysteresis and relaxation
processes. The remarkable quantitative and qualitative differences between
magnetic dot arrays with nonmagnetic central node defect and magnetic dot
arrays without defects have been found.Comment: 4 pages,5 figures, submitted to J. Magn. Magn. Matte
Path sampling for lifetimes of metastable magnetic skyrmions and direct comparison with Kramers' method
We perform a direct comparison between Kramers' method in many dimensions --
i.e., Langer's theory -- adapted to magnetic spin systems, and a path sampling
method in the form of forward flux sampling, as a means to compute collapse
rates of metastable magnetic skyrmions. We show that a good agreement is
obtained between the two methods. We report variations of the attempt frequency
associated with skyrmion collapse by three to four orders of magnitude when
varying the applied magnetic field by 5 of the exchange strength, which
confirms the existence of a strong entropic contribution to the lifetime of
skyrmions. This demonstrates that in complex systems, the knowledge of the rate
prefactor, in addition to the internal energy barrier, is essential in order to
properly estimate a lifetime.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures (main text), 8 pages including supplemental
materia
Magnetization reversal and spin dynamics exchange in biased F/AF bilayers probed with complex permeability spectra
The spin dynamics of the ferromagnetic pinned layer of
ferro-antiferromagnetic coupled NiFe/MnNi bilayers is investigated in a broad
frequency range (30 MHz-6 GHz). A phenomenological model based on the
Landau-Lifshitz equation for the complex permeability of the F/AF bilayer is
proposed. The experimental results are compared to theoretical predictions. We
show that the resonance frequencies, measured during the magnetization, are
likewise hysteretic.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Role of mantle flow in Nubia-Somalia plate divergence
Present-day continental extension along the East African Rift System (EARS) has often been attributed to diverging sublithospheric mantle flow associated with the African Superplume. This implies a degree of viscous coupling between mantle and lithosphere that remains poorly constrained. Recent advances in estimating present-day opening rates along the EARS from geodesy offer an opportunity to address this issue with geodynamic modeling of the mantle-lithosphere system. Here we use numerical models of the global mantle-plates coupled system to test the role of present-day mantle flow in Nubia-Somalia plate divergence across the EARS. The scenario yielding the best fit to geodetic observations is one where torques associated with gradients of gravitational potential energy stored in the African highlands are resisted by weak continental faults and mantle basal drag. These results suggest that shear tractions from diverging mantle flow play a minor role in present-day Nubia-Somalia divergence.This work was supported by NSF award EAR-0538119 to E.C. D.S.S. was supported by NSF graduate research fellowship EAR-2009052513. G.I. acknowledges support from the
Ringwood Fellowship at the Australian National University
Emergence of skyrmion lattices and bimerons in chiral magnetic thin films with nonmagnetic impurities
Skyrmions are topologically protected field structures with particlelike characteristics that play important roles in several areas of science. Recently, skyrmions have been directly observed in chiral magnets. Here, we investigate the effects of pointlike nonmagnetic impurities on the distinct initial states (random or helical ones) and on the formation of the skyrmion crystal in a discrete lattice. Using Monte Carlo techniques, we have found that even a small percentage of spin vacancies present in the chiral magnetic thin film considerably affects the skyrmion order. The main effects of impurities are somewhat similar to thermal effects. The presence of these spin vacancies also induces the formation of bimerons in both the helical and skyrmion states. We also investigate how adjacent impurities forming a hole affect the skyrmion crystal
A Circuit Model for Domain Walls in Ferromagnetic Nanowires: Application to Conductance and Spin Transfer Torques
We present a circuit model to describe the electron transport through a
domain wall in a ferromagnetic nanowire. The domain wall is treated as a
coherent 4-terminal device with incoming and outgoing channels of spin up and
down and the spin-dependent scattering in the vicinity of the wall is modelled
using classical resistances. We derive the conductance of the circuit in terms
of general conductance parameters for a domain wall. We then calculate these
conductance parameters for the case of ballistic transport through the domain
wall, and obtain a simple formula for the domain wall magnetoresistance which
gives a result consistent with recent experiments. The spin transfer torque
exerted on a domain wall by a spin-polarized current is calculated using the
circuit model and an estimate of the speed of the resulting wall motion is
made.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures; submitted to Physical Review
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