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Domain wall motion driven by spin transfer torque from spin-polarized current

  • Regular Article - Solid State and Materials
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Abstract

Together with the spinor Boltzmann equation (SBE) satisfied by conduction electrons, we solve the Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert–Slonczewski (LLGS) equation to study the domain wall (DW) motion driven by the spin-polarized current. The SBE and LLGS equation are coupled together by the spin transfer torque (STT) induced by the s–d exchange interaction between the conduction electrons and the local magnet of DW. Based on the spin diffusion equation derived from SBE, we obtain a generalized STT originated from the inhomogeneity of spin current density, which can be divided into adiabatic and nonadiabatic parts but with somewhat different terms from the previous works. We illustrate this by an example of DW motion in a ferromagnet metal under an external electric field, the spin accumulation, and spin current density of conduction electrons and the DW dynamics are presented. We find that the nonadiabatic STT has a comparable contribution to the total STT within the spin-flip relaxation time, which can play an important role in the nonequilibrium DW dynamics. We also estimate the velocity of DW \(\sim 100\) m/s when an \(10^6\) V/m electric field is applied.

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Data Availability Statement

This manuscript has no associated data or the data will not be deposited. [Authors’ comment: The data that support the results of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon request.]

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Acknowledgements

This study is supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2018YFA0305800), NSFC (Grant No. 11834014), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB28000000).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Ya-Ru Wang, Zheng-Chuan Wang & Gang Su

  2. College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Wuyi University, Wuyishan, 354300, Fujian, China

    Chao Yang

  3. CAS Center for Excellence in Topological Quantum Computation, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Gang Su

Authors
  1. Ya-Ru Wang
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  2. Chao Yang
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  3. Zheng-Chuan Wang
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  4. Gang Su
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Contributions

In this work, Z-CW proposed the idea; Y-RW performed the calculation, analyzed calculated results, and wrote the manuscript. CY assisted with the calculation and analysis. GS assisted with the discussion of results.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Zheng-Chuan Wang or Gang Su.

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Wang, YR., Yang, C., Wang, ZC. et al. Domain wall motion driven by spin transfer torque from spin-polarized current. Eur. Phys. J. B 94, 181 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/s10051-021-00192-x

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