Current-induced motion and pinning of domain walls in spin-valve nanowires studied by XMCD-PEEM

Vojtech Uhlir (1, 2) , Stefania Pizzini (1) , Nicolas Rougemaille (1) , J. Novotny (2) , Vincent Cros (3) , Erika Jimenez (4) , Giancarlo Faini (5) , Lutz Heyne (6) , Fausto Sirotti (7) , Carsten Tieg (8) , A. Bendounan (7, 9) , F. Maccherozzi (7, 9) , R. Belkhou (7, 9) , J. Grollier (3) , A. Anane (3) , Jan Vogel (1)

1 NEEL - MNM - Micro et NanoMagnétisme
2 Institute of Physical Engineering
3 Laboratoire Albert Fert (ex-UMPhy Unité mixte de physique CNRS/Thales)
4 FMC - Departamento de Fisica de la Materia Condensada [Madrid]
5 LPN - Laboratoire de photonique et de nanostructures
6 Fachbereik Physik
7 SSOLEIL - Synchrotron SOLEIL
8 ESRF - European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
9 Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste

Very large average velocities, up to 600 m/s, have been found for domain-wall motion driven by 3-ns-long pulses of electric current in zero magnetic field in the NiFe layer of 200-nm-wide NiFe/Cu/Co nanowires. For longer pulses, the domain-wall motion is strongly hindered by pinning potentials. Dipolar interactions between the NiFe and Co layers caused by anisotropy inhomogeneities have been identified as the most important among the different potential sources of DW pinning. The domain-wall velocities increase with current density, but a substantial drop is observed at current densities above 4×10^11 A/m2

Mots clés: spin-torque; PEEM; domain wall; spin-valves

Domaines: Autre [cond-mat.other]

Vojtech Uhlir, Stefania Pizzini, Nicolas Rougemaille, J. Novotny, Vincent Cros, et al.. Current-induced motion and pinning of domain walls in spin-valve nanowires studied by XMCD-PEEM. Physical Review B: Condensed Matter and Materials Physics (1998-2015), 2010, 81, pp.224418. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevB.81.224418⟩. ⟨hal-00492593⟩