Nanowerk November 18, 2021
Magnetizing RAM technology could reduce energy consumption. To do so domain walls must be better understood. An international team of researchers (USA – UC San Diego, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Colorado, France) uncovered the quantitative explanation for magnetic symmetry breaking during domain wall motion based on experiments performed using thin films of platinum, cobalt, and nickel. By applying magnetic fields in various directions to Pt/Co/Ni they saw that instead of growing in a direction parallel to the magnetic field the domains jetted out along precise, but seemingly arbitrary directions, which appeared to violate conventional notions of symmetry. They theoretically demonstrated that perpendicular field torques stabilize steady-state magnetization profiles highly asymmetric in elastic energy, resulting in a dynamic symmetry breaking consistent with the experimental findings. This phenomenon sheds light on the mechanisms governing the dynamics of Néel-type Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction (DWs) and expands the utility of field-driven DW motion to probe and control chiral DWs. Video … read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ