Voltage-Gated Modulation of Domain Wall Velocity in an Ultrathin Metallic Ferromagnet

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that gate voltage can modulate the domain wall velocity in ultrathin ferromagnetic films, with significant effects at low speeds, revealing potential for electric control of magnetic domain dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces voltage-controlled modulation of domain wall creep velocity in Pt/Co/GdOx films, highlighting the influence of electric fields on magnetic domain motion.

Findings

Gate voltage linearly modulates domain wall activation energy.

Electric field significantly affects low-speed domain wall motion.

Control effectiveness diminishes at higher domain wall velocities.

Abstract

The influence of gate voltage, temperature and magnetic field on domain wall (DW) creep dynamics is investigated in Pt/Co/GdOx films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and imaged by a scanning magneto-optical Kerr effect technique. The DW creep velocity can be controlled by an electric field applied to the Co/GdOx interface via a linear modulation of the activation energy barrier with gate voltage. At low speeds, the DW velocity can be changed significantly by a gate voltage, but the effect is diminished as the DW velocity increases, which limits electric field control of fast DW motion.