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Current-induced magnetic domain wall motion below intrinsic threshold triggered by Walker breakdown

Nature Nanotechnology volume 7, pages 635–639 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

Controlling the position of a magnetic domain wall with electric current1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 may allow for new types of non-volatile memory and logic devices10,12,13,14. To be practical, however, the threshold current density necessary for domain wall motion must be reduced below present values. Intrinsic pinning due to magnetic anisotropy2, as recently observed in perpendicularly magnetized Co/Ni nanowires15, has been shown to give rise to an intrinsic current threshold Jth0. Here, we show that domain wall motion can be induced at current densities 40% below Jth0 when an external magnetic field of the order of the domain wall pinning field is applied. We observe that the velocity of the domain wall motion is the vector sum of current- and field-induced velocities, and that the domain wall can be driven against the direction of a magnetic field as large as 2,000 Oe, even at currents below Jth0. We show that this counterintuitive phenomenon is triggered by Walker breakdown16, and that the additive velocities provide a unique way of simultaneously determining the spin polarization of current and the Gilbert damping constant.

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Figure 1: Schematics of the device structure.
Figure 2: Hall measurement and domain wall depinning induced by a magnetic field.
Figure 3: Domain wall motion induced by a current lower than the intrinsic threshold.
Figure 4: Direction of domain wall motion with the effects of current and field.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partly supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (S) and ‘Funding program for world-leading innovative R&D on science and technology’ (FIRST program) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and the Collaborative Research Program of Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, 611-0011, Kyoto, Japan

    T. Koyama, K. Ueda, K.-J. Kim, Y. Yoshimura, D. Chiba, K. Kobayashi & T. Ono

  2. PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, 4-1-8 Honcho, Kawaguchi, 182-8585, Saitama, Japan

    D. Chiba

  3. Laboratoire de physique des solides, CNRS UMR, Univ. Paris-sud, Orsay, 91405, France

    K. Yamada, J.-P. Jamet, A. Mougin & A. Thiaville

  4. WPI-Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Katahira 2-1-1, Sendai, 980-8577, Miyagi, Japan

    S. Mizukami

  5. NEC Corporation, 34 Miyukigaoka, Tsukuba, 305-8501, Ibaraki, Japan

    S. Fukami & N. Ishiwata

  6. University of Electro-communications, Chofu, 182-8585, Tokyo, Japan

    Y. Nakatani

  7. Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka, 560-8531, Japan

    H. Kohno

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  1. T. Koyama
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  16. T. Ono
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Contributions

S.F. and N.I. supplied the Co/Ni films. T.K., K.U. and Y.Y. fabricated the sample. T.K. designed the experimental set-up and collected all data. K.Y. and J.-P.J. performed the MOKE measurement. S.M. performed the TRMOKE measurement. Y.N. performed the simulation. D.C., K.Kobayashi and T.O. planned and supervised the study. T.K., K.Kim, D.C., A.T., H.K., K.Kobayashi and T.O. wrote the manuscript. All authors discussed the results.

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Correspondence to T. Ono.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Koyama, T., Ueda, K., Kim, KJ. et al. Current-induced magnetic domain wall motion below intrinsic threshold triggered by Walker breakdown. Nature Nanotech 7, 635–639 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2012.151

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