Effect of electrical current pulses on domain walls in Pt/Co/Pt nanotracks with out-of-plane anisotropy: Spin transfer torque versus Joule heating

The effect of electrical current pulses on magnetic domain walls is studied in a nanometer-scale magnetic track defined in a He+-irradiated Pt/Co(0.5 nm)/Pt film with out-of-plane anisotropy. Current pulses in a wide range of intensities and durations are shown to result either in track demagnetization, or in polarity-independent domain-wall propagation, due to Joule heating during the current pulse. None of the expected spin transfer effects is shown to occur. To explain this, the spin-dependent current-density distribution in the stack is evaluated, in the frame of an adapted Fuchs-Sondheimer model. The spin-polarized current density in the cobalt layer is shown to be unexpectedly low as compared to the charge current in the whole stack, which causes Joule heating. This is explained by a low electron transmission at Co/Pt interfaces, as is deduced from resistance measurements on a series of samples with different cobalt thicknesses. This leads us to emphasize that the balance between spin and total charge current densities should be carefully considered when addressing spin transfer torque effects.