Current-driven domain wall motion in heterostructured ferromagnetic nanowires

Micromagnetic modeling shows that the placement of non-magnetic conductive pads on a ferromagnetic wire affects the current-induced velocity of a domain wall (DW) in the wire and can act as a DW chirality filter. The pads shunt the current, causing a non-uniform spin current distribution inside the ferromagnetic wire and an Oersted field transverse to the wire. This suppresses Walker breakdown allowing higher current densities to be imposed before breakdown occurs. The transverse Oersted field pins the DW under some regimes of current density and pad geometry, selectively allowing transmission of DWs of only one chirality. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3692797]