Manipulating magnetic moment in a magnetic domain wall under transverse magnetic fields near Walker threshold

Current-induced domain wall (DW) motion under transverse magnetic fields was investigated through micromagnetic simulation using the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation containing adiabatic and nonadiabatic spin torque terms. It was found that the transverse field aligned antiparallel to the magnetic moment of the DW promotes a nucleation of an antivortex core, which causes a temporal Walker breakdown and then causes the magnetic moment of the DW to be aligned parallel to the transverse field. On the other hand, the transverse field aligned parallel to the magnetic moment of the DW induces the nucleation of an antivortex core at an edge of a nanowire to be delayed, resulting in the increase in Walker threshold current. The effect of transverse field on current-induced DW motion should be considered carefully for the spintronic applications that utilize DW motion. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3488011]