Propagation and control of nanoscale magnetic-droplet solitons

The propagation and controlled manipulation of strongly nonlinear, two-dimensional solitonic states in a thin, anisotropic ferromagnet are theoretically demonstrated. It has been recently proposed that spin-polarized currents in a nanocontact device could be used to nucleate a stationary dissipative droplet soliton. Here, an external magnetic field is introduced to accelerate and control the propagation of the soliton in a lossy medium. Soliton perturbation theory corroborated by two-dimensional micromagnetic simulations predicts several intriguing physical effects, including the acceleration of a stationary soliton by a magnetic field gradient, the stabilization of a stationary droplet by a uniform control field in the absence of spin torque, and the ability to control the soliton's speed by use of a time-varying, spatially uniform external field. Soliton propagation distances approach 10 mu m in low-loss media, suggesting that droplet solitons could be viable information carriers in future spintronic applications, analogous to optical solitons in fiber optic communications.