Dresden 2006 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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SYMS: Magnetic Switching
SYMS 2: Magnetic Switching II
SYMS 2.4: Hauptvortrag
Montag, 27. März 2006, 18:20–18:50, HSZ 04
Interactions between domain walls and spin currents — •M. Klaeui1, M. Laufenberg1, D. Backes1, P.-O. Jubert2, R. Allenspach2, A. Bischof2, L. Vila3, C. Vouille3, G. Faini3, and U. Ruediger1 — 1Fachbereich Physik, Universitaet Konstanz, D-78457 Konstanz — 2IBM Research, Zurich Research Laboratory, CH-8803 Rueschlikon — 3LPN - CNRS, Route de Nozay, F-91460 Marcoussis
A promising novel approach for switching magnetic nanostructures is current-induced domain wall propagation (CIDP) where due to a spin torque effect, electrons transfer angular momentum to a head-to-head domain wall and thereby push it in the direction of the electron flow without any externally applied fields. We use magnetoresistance measurements and spin polarized scanning electron microscopy to directly observe domain wall propagation in-situ in ferromagnetic nanostructures induced by current pulses [1]. We determine the propagation distances as a function of pulse height and pulse length as well as the critical current densities, where domain propagation sets in as a function of temperature. High resolution microscopy allows us to image the nanoscale spin structure of the walls after injection of currents and shows that the current modifies the spin structure dramatically [1]. Comparison to recent theoretical description [2] yields qualitative agreement on some aspects of domain wall transformation, whereas the theories do not reproduce the observed strong temperature dependence of the spin torque effect [2].
[1] M. Klaui et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 106601 (2005), Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 26601 (2005); [2] A. Thiaville et al., Europhys. Lett. 69, 990 (2005); G. Tatara et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 86, 252509 (2005);