Spin-orbit-coupling-induced domain-wall resistance in diffusive ferromagnets.
We investigate diffusive transport through a number of domain wall (DW) profiles of the important magnetic alloy Permalloy taking into account simultaneously noncollinearity, alloy disorder, and spin-orbit-coupling fully quantum mechanically, from first principles. In addition to observing the known effects of magnetization mistracking and anisotropic magnetoresistance, we discover a not-previously identified contribution to the resistance of a DW that comes from spin-orbit-coupling-mediated spin-flip scattering in a textured diffusive ferromagnet. This adiabatic DW resistance, which should exist in all diffusive DWs, can be observed by varying the DW width in a systematic fashion in suitably designed nanowires.
Faculty of Science and Technology and MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
Zhe
Z
Yuan
Yi
Y
Liu
Anton A
AA
Starikov
Paul J
PJ
Kelly
Arne
A
Brataas