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We have investigated the pinning and depinning of "virtual" domain walls in planar magnetic nanowires. Such virtual walls are created when a conventional domain wall becomes annihilated at a narrow gap between two segments of a discontinuous nanowire. By using focused magneto-optical Kerr effect magnetometry to study the repeatability of their depinning, we show that virtual walls exhibit single-mode depinning distributions, characterized by remarkably low, sub-Oersted standard deviations. This is in stark contrast to the depinning of domain walls from conventional notch-shaped defects, which typically exhibit multi-mode depinning field distributions spanning tens to hundreds of Oersteds. High-resolution magnetic soft x-ray microscopy measurements are used to reveal that this high level of repeatability is the result of a simple mediated-nucleation process, which decouples the depinning mechanism from structure of the initially injected DWs. Our work serves as an example of how the complex and dynamical stochastic behaviors exhibited by domain walls in nanowires can be controlled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interactions of vortex domain walls with corners in planar magnetic nanowires are probed using magnetic soft X-ray transmission microscopy. We show that when the domain walls are propagated into sharp corners using applied magnetic fields above a critical value, their chiralities are rectified to either clockwise or anticlockwise circulation depending on whether the corners turn left or right. Single-shot focused magneto-optic Kerr effect measurements are then used to demonstrate how, when combined with modes of domain propagation that conserve vortex chirality, this allows us to dramatically reduce the stochasticity of domain pinning at artificial defect sites. Our results provide a tool for controlling domain wall chirality and pinning behavior both in further experimental studies and in future domain wall-based memory, logic and sensor technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a method of pinning and propagating domain walls in artificial multiferroic nanowires using electrically induced surface acoustic waves. Using finite-element micromagnetic simulations and 1D semi-analytical modelling, we demonstrate how a pair of interdigitated acoustic transducers can remotely induce an array of attractive domain wall pinning sites by forming a standing stress/strain wave along a nanowire's length. Shifts in the frequencies of the surface acoustic waves allow multiple domain walls to be synchronously transported at speeds up to 50 ms-1. Our study lays the foundation for energy-efficient domain wall devices that exploit the low propagation losses of surface acoustic waves to precisely manipulate large numbers of data bits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pinning of domain walls in ferromagnetic (F) wires is one possible technique for the creation of a solid state magnetic memory. Such a system has been under consideration for some time but one of the main limitations is the control of, and non-uniformity of the domain wall pinning. Techniques such as the lithographic definition of notches and steps in the substrate have had some success in creating local pins but have the disadvantage of being expensive to fabricate and the reproducibility of the domain wall pinning strength is limited. In this letter, we report on an alternative strategy to create pins of reproducible strength using crossed ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic (AF) wires such that exchange bias can be introduced at the crossing points. Such a system has the advantage of ease of fabrication and creating domain wall pins of controlled strength by varying the width of the AF wire. We have achieved domain wall pinning field strengths of up to 37 Oe in a system where the AF wire is deposited above the F wire which is comparable to the values achieved using notches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a method of controllably propagating domain walls (DWs) in magnetic nanowires over extended linear distances by confining them to geometrically defined energy minima. Using simple models, magnetic transmission soft x-ray microscopy and magneto-optic Kerr effect measurements, we show that the technique allows DWs to be moved at arbitrary, user-defined velocities and be positioned with micrometer precision. Our approach is expected to be of utility in applications where the precise transport and positioning of DWs take precedent over the absolute speed of propagation, for example, where the fields produced by DWs are used to trap and transport magnetized particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information regarding a research related to magnetic domain wall, an interface separating magnetic domains, conducted by researcher Geoffrey Beach and colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts. Beach and colleagues concluded that a voltage applied to the ionic conductor gadolinium oxide (GdOx) can trap the motion of propagating domain walls by creating sharp, localized variations in the magnetic anisotropy of the cobalt (Co) nanowires.

Finite temperature micromagnetic simulations are used to probe stochastic domain wall pinning behaviours in magnetic nanowire devices. By exploring field-induced propagation both below and above the Walker breakdown field it is shown that all experimentally observed phenomena can be comprehensively explained by the influence of thermal perturbations on the domain walls' magnetisation dynamics. Nanowires with finite edge roughness are also investigated, and these demonstrate how this additional form of disorder couples with thermal perturbations to significantly enhance stochasticity. Cumulatively, these results indicate that stochastic pinning is an intrinsic feature of DW behaviour at finite temperatures, and would not be suppressed even in hypothetical systems where initial DW states and experimental parameters were perfectly defined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]