Domain wall motion driven by a wide range of current in coupled soft/hard ferromagnetic nanowires

Racetrack memory with the advantages of small size and high reading speed is proposed based on current-induced domain wall (DW) motion in a ferromagnetic (FM) nanowire. Walker breakdown that restricts the enhancement of DW velocity in a single FM nanowire can be depressed by inter-wire magnetostatic coupling in a double FM nanowire system. However, this magnetostatic coupling also limits the working current density in a small range. In the present work, based on micromagnetic calculation, we have found that when there is a moderate difference of magnetic anisotropy constant between two FM nanowires, the critical current density for triggering the DW motion can be reduced while that for breaking the inter-wire coupling can be enhanced significantly to a magnitude of 10(13) A m(-2), which is far above the working current density in current electronic devices. The manipulation of working current density is relevant to the modification of DW structure and inter-wire magnetostatic coupling due to the difference of the anisotropy constants between the two nanowires and paves a way to develop racetrack memory that can work in a wide range of current.

Automated summary

This paper proposes a racetrack memory with the advantages of small size and high reading speed based on current-induced domain wall motion in a ferromagnetic nanowire. The enhancement of domain wall velocity can be achieved by inter-wire magnetostatic coupling in a double nanowire system. By adjusting the magnetic anisotropy constant difference, the manipulation of working current density is possible.