Birth, growth and death of an antivortex during the propagation of a transverse domain wall in magnetic nanostrips

Aritivortex birth, growth and death accompanying the propagation of a transverse domain wall (DW) in magnetic nanostrips are observed and analyzed. Antivortex formation is an intrinsic process of a strawberry-like transverse DW originated from magnetostatic interaction. Under an external magnetic held, the wider width region of a DW tends to move faster than the narrower one. This speed mismatch tilts and elongates DW center line. As a result, an antivortex with a well-defined polarity is periodically born near the tail of the DW center line. The antivortex either moves along the center line and dies on the other side of the nanostrip, or grows to its maximum size, detaches itself from the DW, and vanishes eventually. The former route reverses the polarity of DW while the later keeps the DW polarity unchanged. The evolution of the DW structures is analyzed using winding numbers assigned to each topological defects. The phase diagram in the held-width plane is obtained and the damping constant's influence on the phase diagram is discussed. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.