Magnetic Moment Softening and Domain Wall Resistance in Ni Nanowires

TL;DR

This study uses ab initio calculations to show that magnetic moment softening in Ni nanowires with narrow domain walls significantly increases domain wall resistance due to electronic scattering effects.

Contribution

It provides new insights into how noncollinear spin hybridization causes magnetic moment softening and resistance changes in atomic-scale Ni nanowires.

Findings

Magnetic moments are softened in atomic-scale domain walls.

Magnetic moment softening enhances domain wall resistance.

Electronic structure calculations reveal the scattering mechanism.

Abstract

Magnetic moments in atomic scale domain walls formed in nanoconstrictions and nanowires are softened which affects dramatically the domain wall resistance. We perform ab initio calculations of the electronic structure and conductance of atomic-size Ni nanowires with domain walls only a few atomic lattice constants wide. We show that the hybridization between noncollinear spin states leads to a reduction of the magnetic moments in the domain wall. This magnetic moment softening strongly enhances the domain wall resistance due to scattering produced by the local perturbation of the electronic potential.