Dependence of Current and Field Driven Depinning of Domain Walls on Their Structure and Chirality in Permalloy Nanowires

Masamitsu Hayashi, Luc Thomas, Charles Rettner, Rai Moriya, Xin Jiang, and Stuart S. P. Parkin
Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 207205 – Published 16 November 2006

Abstract

A magnetic domain wall (DW) injected and pinned at a notch in a permalloy nanowire is shown to exhibit four well-defined magnetic states, vortex and transverse, each with two chiralities. These states, imaged using magnetic force microscopy, are readily detected from their different resistance values arising from the anisotropic magnetoresistance effect. Whereas distinct depinning fields and critical depinning currents in the presence of magnetic fields are found, the critical depinning currents are surprisingly similar for all four DW states in low magnetic fields. We observe current-induced transformations between these DW states below the critical depinning current which may account for the similar depinning currents.

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  • Received 2 January 2006

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.207205

©2006 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Masamitsu Hayashi1,2, Luc Thomas1, Charles Rettner1, Rai Moriya1, Xin Jiang1, and Stuart S. P. Parkin1,*

  • 1IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose, California, USA
  • 2Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA

  • *Email address: parkin@almaden.ibm.com

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Vol. 97, Iss. 20 — 17 November 2006

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