title: Electric current effect on the energy barrier of magnetic domain wall depinning: origin of the quadratic contribution.
abstract: The energy barrier of a magnetic domain wall trapped at a defect is measured experimentally. When the domain wall is pushed by an electric current and/or a magnetic field, the depinning time from the barrier exhibits perfect exponential distribution, indicating that a single energy barrier governs the depinning. The electric current is found to generate linear and quadratic contributions to the energy barrier, which are attributed to the nonadiabatic and adiabatic spin-transfer torques, respectively. The adiabatic spin-transfer torque reduces the energy barrier and, consequently, causes depinning at lower current densities, promising a way toward low-power current-controlled magnetic applications.
authors.affiliation: CSO and Department of Physics, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Kab-Jin
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jisu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ryu
authors.forename: Gi-Hong
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Gim
authors.forename: Jae-Chul
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Kyung-Ho
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Hyun-Woo
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Sug-Bong
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Choe