Nonequilibrium Rashba field driven domain wall motion in ferromagnetic nanowires

TL;DR

This paper investigates how spin-orbit interaction creates a strong nonequilibrium Rashba field that influences domain wall motion in ferromagnetic nanowires, enabling control via current pulses.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of a dominant nonequilibrium Rashba field caused by spin relaxation and SOI, affecting domain wall dynamics in ultrathin ferromagnetic nanowires.

Findings

Rashba field causes complex spin precession.

Transition from translatory to oscillatory domain wall motion.

Current pulse control effectively manipulates domain wall dynamics.

Abstract

We study the effects of spin-orbit interaction (SOI) on the current-induced motion of a magnetic (Bloch) domain wall in ultrathin ferromagnetic nanowires. The conspiracy of spin relaxation and SOI is shown to generate a novel strong nonequilibrium Rashba field, which is dominant even for moderate SOI. This field causes intricate spin precession and a transition from translatory to oscillatory wall dynamics with increasing SOI. We show that current pulses of different lengths can efficiently be used to control the domain wall motion.