Coupling magneto-elastic Lagrangians to spin transfer torque sources

TL;DR

This paper develops a theoretical framework coupling magnetic and elastic dynamics via Lagrangians, analyzing how external stresses and spin transfer torques influence ultrafast switching in antiferromagnetic materials.

Contribution

It introduces a consistent Lagrangian-based model for magneto-elastic coupling and explores its effects on ultrafast switching in antiferromagnetic systems through numerical simulations.

Findings

Magnetostrictive coupling significantly affects switching dynamics.

External stresses can control ultrafast magnetic switching.

The model accurately predicts behavior in prototype antiferromagnetic materials.

Abstract

The consequences of coupling magnetic and elastic degrees of freedom, where spins and deformations are carried by point-like objects subject to local interactions, are studied, theoretically and by detailed numerical simulations. From the constrained Lagrangians we derive consistent equations of motion for the coupled dynamical variables. In order to probe the dynamics of such a system, we consider external perturbations, such as spin transfer torques for the magnetic part, and homogeneous stresses for the elastic part, associated to their corresponding damping. This approach is applied to the study of ultrafast switching processes in anti-ferromagnetic systems, which have recently attracted attention as candidates for anti-ferromagnetic spintronic devices. Our strategy is then checked in simple, but instructive, situations. We carried out numerical experiments to study, in particular, how the magnetostrictive coupling and external stresses affect the nature of the switching processes in a prototype anti-ferromagnetic material.