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- Title
Non-adiabatic spin-torques in narrow magnetic domain walls.
- Authors
Burrowes, C.; Mihai, A. P.; Ravelosona, D.; Kim, J.-V.; Chappert, C.; Vila, L.; Marty, A.; Samson, Y.; Garcia-Sanchez, F.; Buda-Prejbeanu, L. D.; Tudosa, I.; Fullerton, E. E.; Attané, J.-P.
- Abstract
Torques appear between charge carrier spins and local moments in regions of ferromagnetic media where spatial magnetization gradients occur, such as a domain wall, owing to an exchange interaction. This phenomenon has been predicted by different theories and confirmed in a number of experiments on metallic and semiconductor ferromagnets. Understanding the magnitude and orientation of such spin-torques is an important problem for spin-dependent transport and current-driven magnetization dynamics, as domain-wall motion underlies a number of emerging spintronic technologies. One outstanding issue concerns the non-adiabatic spin-torque component β, which has an important role in wall dynamics, but no clear consensus has yet emerged over its origin or magnitude. Here, we report an experimental measurement of β in perpendicularly magnetized films with narrow domain walls (1–10 nm). By studying thermally activated wall depinning, we deduce β from the variation of the Arrhenius transition rate with applied currents. Surprisingly, we find β to be small and relatively insensitive to the wall width, which stands in contrast to predictions from transport theories. In addition, we find β to be close to the Gilbert damping constant α, which, in light of similar results on planar anisotropy systems, suggests a universal origin for the non-adiabatic torque.
- Subjects
TORQUE; ROTATIONAL motion; MAGNETIZATION; FERROMAGNETISM; FERROMAGNETIC materials; SPINTRONICS
- Publication
Nature Physics, 2010, Vol 6, Issue 1, p17
- ISSN
1745-2473
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/nphys1436