Systematic motion of magnetic domain walls in notched nanowires under ultrashort current pulses

International audienceThe precise manipulation of transversemagnetic domain walls in finite/infinite nanowires with artificial defects under the influence of very short spin-polarized current pulses is investigated. We show that for a classical 3d ferromagnet material like nickel, the exact positioning of the domain walls at room temperature is possible only for pulses with very short rise and fall time that move the domain wall reliably to nearest neighboring pinning position. The influence of the shape of the current pulse and of the transient effects on the phase diagram current-pulse length are discussed. We show that large transient effects appear even when alpha = beta, below a critical value, due to the domain wall distortion caused by the current pulse shape and the presence of the notches. The transient effects can oppose or amplify the spin-transfer torque (STT), depending on the ratio beta/alpha. This enlarges the physical comprehension of the domain wall (DW) motion under STT and opens the route to the DW displacement in both directions with unipolar currents