Layer-resolved imaging of domain wall interactions in magnetic tunnel junction-like trilayers

We have performed a layer-resolved, microscopic study of interactions between domain walls in two magnetic layers separated by a non-magnetic one, using high-resolution x-ray photoemission electron microscopy. Domain walls in the hard magnetic Co layer of a Co/Al2O3/FeNi trilayer with in-plane uniaxial anisotropy strongly modify the local magnetization direction in the soft magnetic FeNi layer. The stray fields associated to the domain walls lead to an antiparallel coupling between the local Co and FeNi moments. For domain walls parallel to the easy magnetization axis this interaction is limited to the domain wall region itself. For strongly charged (head-on or tail-to-tail) walls, the antiparallel coupling dominates the interaction over radial distances up to several micrometers from the centre of the domain wall.Comment: Published version, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 19, 476204 (2007

Domain walls in helical magnets

The structure of domain walls determines to a large extent the properties of magnetic materials, in particular their hardness and switching behavior, it represents an essential ingredient of spintronics. Common domain walls are of Bloch and Neel types in which the magnetization rotates around a fixed axis, giving rise to a one-dimensional magnetization profile. Domain walls in helical magnets, most relevant in multiferroics, were never studied systematically. Here we show that domain walls in helical magnets are fundamentally different from Bloch and Neel walls. They are generically characterized by a two-dimensional pattern formed by a regular lattice of vortex singularities. In conical phases vortices carry Berry phase flux giving rise to the anomalous Hall effect. In multiferroics vortices are charged, allowing to manipulate magnetic domain walls by electric fields. Our theory allows the interpretation of magnetic textures observed in helical magnetic structures

Velocity enhancement by synchronization of magnetic domain walls

Magnetic domain walls are objects whose dynamics is inseparably connected to their structure. In this work we investigate magnetic bilayers, which are engineered such that a coupled pair of domain walls, one in each layer, is stabilized by a cooperation of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and flux-closing mechanism. The dipolar field mediating the interaction between the two domain walls, links not only their position but also their structure. We show that this link has a direct impact on their magnetic field induced dynamics. We demonstrate that in such a system the coupling leads to an increased domain wall velocity with respect to single domain walls. Since the domain wall dynamics is observed in a precessional regime, the dynamics involves the synchronization between the two walls, to preserve the flux closure during motion. Properties of these coupled oscillating walls can be tuned by an additional in-plane magnetic field enabling a rich variety of states, from perfect synchronization to complete detuning

Dynamical Generation of the Primordial Magnetic Field by Ferromagnetic Domain Walls

The spontaneous generation of uniform magnetic condensate in $QED_3$ gives rise to ferromagnetic domain walls at the electroweak phase transition. These ferromagnetic domain walls are caracterized by vanishing effective surface energy density avoiding, thus, the domain wall problem. Moreover we find that the domain walls generate a magnetic field $B \simeq 10^{24} Gauss$ at the electroweak scale which account for the seed field in the so called dynamo mechanism for the cosmological primordial magnetic field. We find that the annihilation processes of walls with size $R \simeq 10^5 Km$ could release an energy of order $10^{52} erg$ indicating the invisible ferromagnetic walls as possible compact sources of Gamma Ray Bursts.Comment: LaTeX, 8 pages, 1 figur

Triplet superconductivity and proximity effect induced by Bloch and N\'{e}el domain walls

Noncollinear magnetic interfaces introduced in superconductor (SC)/ferromagnet/SC heterostructures allow for spin-flipping processes and are able to generate equal-spin spin-triplet pairing correlations within the ferromagnetic region. This leads to the occurrence of the so-called long-range proximity effect. Particular examples of noncollinear magnetic interfaces include Bloch and N\'{e}el domain walls. Here, we present results for heterostructures containing Bloch and N\'{e}el domain walls based on self-consistent solutions of the spin-dependent Bogoliubov$-$de Gennes equations in the clean limit. In particular, we investigate the thickness dependence of Bloch and N\'{e}el domain walls on induced spin-triplet pairing correlations and compare with other experimental and theoretical results, including conical magnetic layers as noncollinear magnetic interfaces. It is shown that both, Bloch and N\'{e}el domain walls lead to the generation of unequal-spin spin-triplet pairing correlations of similar strength as for conical magnetic layers. However, for the particular heterostructure geometries investigated, only Bloch domain walls lead to the generation of equal-spin spin-triplet pairing correlations. They are stronger than those generated by an equivalent thickness of conical magnetic layers. In order for N\'{e}el domain walls to induce equal-spin spin-triplet pairing correlations, they have to be oriented such that the noncollinearity appears within the plane parallel to the interface region.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Influence of magnetic field and ferromagnetic film thickness on domain pattern transfer in multiferroic heterostructures

Domains in BaTiO$_3$ induces a regular modulation of uniaxial magnetic anisotropy in CoFeB via an inverse magnetostriction effect. As a result, the domain structures of the CoFeB wedge film and BaTiO$_3$ substrate correlate fully and straight ferroelectric domain boundaries in BaTiO$_3$ pin magnetic domain walls in CoFeB. We use x-ray photoemission electron microscopy and magneto-optical Kerr effect microscopy to characterize the spin structure of the pinned domain walls. In a rotating magnetic field, abrupt and reversible transitions between two domain wall types occur, namely, narrow walls where the magnetization vectors align head-to-tail and much broader walls with alternating head-to-head and tail-to-tail magnetization configurations. We characterize variations of the domain wall spin structure as a function of magnetic field strength and CoFeB film thickness and compare the experimental results with micromagnetic simulations.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Field Tuning of Ferromagnetic Domain Walls on Elastically Coupled Ferroelectric Domain Boundaries

We report on the evolution of ferromagnetic domain walls during magnetization reversal in elastically coupled ferromagnetic-ferroelectric heterostructures. Using optical polarization microscopy and micromagnetic simulations, we demonstrate that the spin rotation and width of ferromagnetic domain walls can be accurately controlled by the strength of the applied magnetic field if the ferromagnetic walls are pinned onto 90 degrees ferroelectric domain boundaries. Moreover, reversible switching between magnetically charged and uncharged domain walls is initiated by magnetic field rotation. Switching between both wall types reverses the wall chirality and abruptly changes the width of the ferromagnetic domain walls by up to 1000%.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Intrinsic Domain Wall Resistance in Ferromagnetic Semiconductors

Transport through zincblende magnetic semiconductors with magnetic domain walls is studied theoretically. We show that these magnetic domain walls have an intrinsic resistance due to the spin-orbit interaction. The intrinsic resistance is independent of the domain wall shape and width when the latter is larger than the Fermi wavelength. For typical parameters, the intrinsic domain wall resistance is comparable to the Sharvin resistance and should be experimentally measurable.Comment: Final versio