Electric Current Effect on the Energy Barrier of Magnetic Domain Wall Depinning: Origin of the Quadratic Contribution

Kab-Jin Kim, Jisu Ryu, Gi-Hong Gim, Jae-Chul Lee, Kyung-Ho Shin, Hyun-Woo Lee, and Sug-Bong Choe
Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 217205 – Published 18 November 2011

Abstract

The energy barrier of a magnetic domain wall trapped at a defect is measured experimentally. When the domain wall is pushed by an electric current and/or a magnetic field, the depinning time from the barrier exhibits perfect exponential distribution, indicating that a single energy barrier governs the depinning. The electric current is found to generate linear and quadratic contributions to the energy barrier, which are attributed to the nonadiabatic and adiabatic spin-transfer torques, respectively. The adiabatic spin-transfer torque reduces the energy barrier and, consequently, causes depinning at lower current densities, promising a way toward low-power current-controlled magnetic applications.

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  • Received 6 September 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.217205

© 2011 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Kab-Jin Kim1,*, Jisu Ryu2,†, Gi-Hong Gim1, Jae-Chul Lee1,3, Kyung-Ho Shin3, Hyun-Woo Lee2, and Sug-Bong Choe1,‡

  • 1CSO and Department of Physics, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea
  • 2PCTP and Department of Physics, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang, Kyungbuk 790-784, Korea
  • 3Spin Device Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 136-791, Republic of Korea

  • *Present address: Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011, Japan.
  • feitw@postech.ac.kr
  • sugbong@snu.ac.kr

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Issue

Vol. 107, Iss. 21 — 18 November 2011

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