Propulsion of magnetic domain walls via elastic damping in magnetostrictive materials
Abstract
The interaction between magnetic and elastic degrees of freedom is increasingly central to advanced spintronics technology. In magnetostrictive materials, a moving domain wall carries a localized elastic deformation. Here, we investigate these elastic deformations and their back-action on field-driven domain wall dynamics using a fully coupled micromagnetic-elastodynamic framework and an analytical collective coordinates model. We show that mechanical damping acts as a non-magnetic dissipation channel, extracting energy from the magnetic texture and sustaining translational domain wall motion even in the complete absence of intrinsic Gilbert damping (α=0). Specifically, elastic damping impacts domain wall dynamics in a manner equivalent to magnetic losses, allowing us to map it onto an effective magnetoelastic contribution to the Gilbert damping parameter, αme. We calculate the localized stress tensor profiles co-moving with the domain wall and show that mechanical dissipation breaks their spatial symmetry. Using our collective coordinates model, we demonstrate that these asymmetric stress profiles-specifically the localized stress gradients across the wall core-exert direct propelling forces that balance field-induced magnetic precession, enabling steady-state motion. Overall, these findings reveal a fundamental energy transfer and relaxation mechanism between magnetic and elastic subsystems, providing valuable insights for controlling magnetic texture dynamics via strain engineering and mechanical damping design in acoustic spintronic devices.
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BibTeX
@misc{moreno2026propulsion,
title = {{Propulsion of magnetic domain walls via elastic damping in magnetostrictive materials}},
author = {Miguel Moreno and Rocio Yanes and Luis Lopez-Diaz},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.16904},
eprint = {2609.16904},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.16904},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Propulsion of magnetic domain walls via elastic damping in magnetostrictive materials
AU - Miguel Moreno
AU - Rocio Yanes
AU - Luis Lopez-Diaz
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/15
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.16904
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.16904
AB - The interaction between magnetic and elastic degrees of freedom is increasingly central to advanced spintronics technology. In magnetostrictive materials, a moving domain wall carries a localized elastic deformation. Here, we investigate these elastic deformations and their back-action on field-driven domain wall dynamics using a fully coupled micromagnetic-elastodynamic framework and an analytical collective coordinates model. We show that mechanical damping acts as a non-magnetic dissipation channel, extracting energy from the magnetic texture and sustaining translational domain wall motion even in the complete absence of intrinsic Gilbert damping (α=0). Specifically, elastic damping impacts domain wall dynamics in a manner equivalent to magnetic losses, allowing us to map it onto an effective magnetoelastic contribution to the Gilbert damping parameter, α_me. We calculate the localized stress tensor profiles co-moving with the domain wall and show that mechanical dissipation breaks their spatial symmetry. Using our collective coordinates model, we demonstrate that these asymmetric stress profiles-specifically the localized stress gradients across the wall core-exert direct propelling forces that balance field-induced magnetic precession, enabling steady-state motion. Overall, these findings reveal a fundamental energy transfer and relaxation mechanism between magnetic and elastic subsystems, providing valuable insights for controlling magnetic texture dynamics via strain engineering and mechanical damping design in acoustic spintronic devices.
ER -