Electric-field control of domain wall nucleation and pinning in a metallic ferromagnet

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how electric fields can precisely control domain wall nucleation and pinning in a metallic ferromagnet with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, offering an energy-efficient alternative to traditional magnetic control methods.

Contribution

It introduces novel methods for electric-field manipulation of domain walls, including nucleation control and edge pinning, in multilayer ferromagnetic systems.

Findings

Electric fields can induce domain wall nucleation.

Electric fields can halt domain wall propagation at electrode edges.

Enhanced control of magnetic domain dynamics using electric fields.

Abstract

The electric (E) field control of magnetic properties opens the prospects of an alternative to magnetic field or electric current activation to control magnetization. Multilayers with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) have proven to be particularly sensitive to the influence of an E-field due to the interfacial origin of their anisotropy. In these systems, E-field effects have been recently applied to assist magnetization switching and control domain wall (DW) velocity. Here we report on two new applications of the E-field in a similar material : controlling DW nucleation and stopping DW propagation at the edge of the electrode.