Switching between Magnetic Bloch and Neel Domain Walls with Anisotropy Modulations

It has been shown previously that the presence of a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in perpendicularly magnetized thin films stabilizes Neel type domain walls. We demonstrate, using micromagnetic simulations and analytical modeling, that the presence of a uniaxial in plane magnetic anisotropy can also lead to the formation of Neel walls in the absence of a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. It is possible to abruptly switch between Bloch and Neel walls via a small modulation of the in plane, but also the perpendicular, magnetic anisotropy. This opens up a route toward electric field control of the domain wall type with small applied voltages through electric field controlled anisotropies.

Automated summary

Through micromagnetic simulations and analytical modeling, it has been found that Neel walls can be formed even in the absence of a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, but with uniaxial in-plane magnetic anisotropy. The ability to switch between Bloch and Neel walls can be achieved via modulation of both in-plane and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, opening up possibilities for electric field control of domain wall type with small applied voltages.