Analysis of ultranarrow ferromagnetic domain walls

New materials with high magnetic anisotropy will have domains separated by ultranarrow ferromagnetic walls with widths on the order of a few unit cells, approaching the limit where the elastic continuum approximation often used in micromagnetic simulations is accurate. The limits of this approximation are explored, and the static and dynamic interactions with intrinsic crystalline defects and external driving fields are modeled. The results developed here will be important when considering the stability of ultrahigh-density storage media. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3672841]