Polarity-selective domain wall propagation driven by spin-orbit torque
Abstract
Spatial variations in magnetic anisotropy impede the spin-orbit-torque-driven motion of chiral domain walls in perpendicularly magnetized nanowires. We show that the local geometry of a two-dimensional anisotropy landscape can select which wall polarity propagates under a given current. Micromagnetic simulations of spatially correlated random anisotropy landscapes generated by diffusion-based smoothing reveal different propagation outcomes for up--down and down--up walls within the same disorder realization. A single inclined anisotropy boundary isolates the mechanism: in the presence of the Dzyaloshinskii--Moriya interaction, opposite wall polarities develop opposite current-induced tilts, producing different alignment with the boundary and hence different pinning strengths. Reversing the boundary inclination interchanges the pinned and propagating polarities. An extended collective-coordinate model captures this geometric selection and distinguishes the propagation threshold from the static pinning limit.
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BibTeX
@misc{umetsu2026polarityselective,
title = {{Polarity-selective domain wall propagation driven by spin-orbit torque}},
author = {Nobuyuki Umetsu and Michael Quinsat and Masaki Kado and Hiroki Tokuhira},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.28052},
eprint = {2610.28052},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.28052},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Polarity-selective domain wall propagation driven by spin-orbit torque
AU - Nobuyuki Umetsu
AU - Michael Quinsat
AU - Masaki Kado
AU - Hiroki Tokuhira
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/20
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.28052
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.28052
AB - Spatial variations in magnetic anisotropy impede the spin-orbit-torque-driven motion of chiral domain walls in perpendicularly magnetized nanowires. We show that the local geometry of a two-dimensional anisotropy landscape can select which wall polarity propagates under a given current. Micromagnetic simulations of spatially correlated random anisotropy landscapes generated by diffusion-based smoothing reveal different propagation outcomes for up--down and down--up walls within the same disorder realization. A single inclined anisotropy boundary isolates the mechanism: in the presence of the Dzyaloshinskii--Moriya interaction, opposite wall polarities develop opposite current-induced tilts, producing different alignment with the boundary and hence different pinning strengths. Reversing the boundary inclination interchanges the pinned and propagating polarities. An extended collective-coordinate model captures this geometric selection and distinguishes the propagation threshold from the static pinning limit.
ER -