Nonadiabatic spin-transfer torque in real materials

2008/12/13 by Ion Garate, K. Gilmore, Keith Gilmore +2 · 7 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Adiabatic process #BETA (programming language) #Classical mechanics #Computer science #Condensed matter physics #Current (fluid) #Dimensionless quantity #Domain wall (magnetism) #Magnetic field #Magnetic properties of thin films #Magnetization #Physics #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Quantum mechanics #Spin (aerodynamics) #Spin-transfer torque #Thermodynamics #Torque #cond-mat.mtrl-sci

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.79.104416

published as Phys. Rev. B 79, 104416 (2009) · 18 pages, 9 figures; submitted to Phys. Rev. B

arxiv created 2008/12/13 · openalex publication_date 2009/03/16 · arxiv updated 2010/04/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

The motion of simple domain walls and of more complex magnetic textures in the presence of a transport current is described by the Landau-Lifshitz-Slonczewski (LLS) equations. Predictions of the LLS equations depend sensitively on the ratio between the dimensionless material parameter \ensuremathβ which characterizes nonadiabatic spin-transfer torques and the Gilbert damping parameter \ensuremathα. This ratio has been variously estimated to be close to zero, close to one, and large compared to one. By identifying \ensuremathβ as the influence of a transport current on \ensuremathα, we derive a concise, explicit, and relatively simple expression which relates \ensuremathβ to the band structure and Bloch state lifetimes of a magnetic metal. Using this expression we demonstrate that intrinsic spin-orbit interactions lead to intraband contributions to \ensuremathβ which are often dominant, and can be (i) estimated with some confidence and (ii) interpreted using the ``breathing Fermi-surface'' model.

Citations

• Current-driven excitation of magnetic multilayers
• Influence of a uniform current on collective magnetization dynamics in a ferromagnetic metal
• Gilbert damping in conducting ferromagnets. II. Model tests of the torque-correlation formula
• Functional Keldysh theory of spin torques
• Microscopic approach to current-driven domain wall dynamics

Cited by

• Chiral damping, chiral gyromagnetism, and current-induced torques in textured one-dimensional Rashba ferromagnets
• Inverse Spin-Galvanic Effect in the Interface between a Topological Insulator and a Ferromagnet
• Intrinsic damping phenomena from quantum to classical magnets: An ab initio study of Gilbert damping in a Pt/Co bilayer
• Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction induced extrinsic linewidth broadening of ferromagnetic resonance
• Nonequilibrium Rashba field driven domain wall motion in ferromagnetic nanowires
• Emergence of Huge Negative Spin-Transfer Torque in Atomically Thin Co layers
• Theory of spin relaxation torque in metallic ferromagnets

Related

• Wide ferromagnetic domain walls can host both adiabatic reflectionless spin transport and finite nonadiabatic spin torque: A time-dependent quantum transport picture
• Current-induced domain wall motion including thermal effects based on Landau-Lifshitz-Bloch equation
• Spin Transfer Torque as a Non-Conservative Pseudo-Field
• Enhanced domain wall velocity near a ferromagnetic instability
• Current-induced nonadiabatic spin torques and domain-wall motion with spin relaxation in a ferromagnetic metallic wire