Micromagnetic structure of the domain wall with Bloch lines in an electric field

The micromagnetic structure of the domain wall (DW) with periodically distributed horizontal Bloch lines in a ferromagnetic film in an external electric field has been studied. The effect of the electric field on the internal DW micromagnetic structure is caused by inhomogeneous magnetoelectric coupling. Possible scenarios of the DW internal structure transformations implemented with varying the electric fields strength have been analyzed in detail. For each scenario, static characteristics of the system, such as the energy, DW profile, DW effective thickness, and electric polarization have been calculated.     

Stability of the one-dimensional precession regime of a domain wall under a dc magnetic field in a uniaxial ferromagnet

The conditions for parametric excitation of flexural vibrations of a domain wall (DW) are determined in the case where the DW moves under the action of a uniform dc magnetic field whose strength exceeds the Walker critical value (in the spin precession regime). Vibrations are excited when uniform precession caused by the magnetic field during DW translational motion breaks down. Using numerical methods, it is shown that steady-state large-amplitude vibrations can occur and that these vibrations significantly affect the average DW velocity     

Nanometer scale observation of high efficiency thermally assisted current-driven domain wall depinning

Nanometer scale observation of the depinning of a narrow domain wall (DW) under a spin current is reported. We studied approximately 12 nm wide 1D Bloch DWs created in thin films exhibiting perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Magnetotransport measurements reveal thermally assisted current-driven DW motion between pinning sites separated by as little as 20 nm. The efficiency of current-driven DW motion assisted by thermal fluctuations is measured to be orders of magnitude higher than has been found for in-plane magnetized films, allowing us to control DW motion on a nanometer scale at low current densities.     

Symmetry theory of the flexomagnetoelectric effect in the Bloch lines

It was shown that there are 48 magnetic point groups of the Bloch lines including 22 (11 time-invariant and 11 time-noninvariant) enantiomorphic and 26 non-enantiomorphic groups. The Bloch lines with the time-noninvariant enantiomorphism have identical types (parities) of the magnetization and polarization dependences. The list of soliton-like Bloch lines is derived from the symmetry classification. The tip electrode method of the creation of these Bloch lines is suggested for the potential applications in the magnetoelectric memory devices. The method of the experimental determination of the flexomagnetoelectric properties of the Bloch lines carried by the Bloch domain wall has been suggested. New type of the flexomagnetoelectric coupling, which is determined by the spatial derivatives of the electric polarization, can be found in the vicinity of the Curie temperature or compensation point of the ferrimagnets. The multi-state Bloch line magnetoelectric/multiferroic memory is proposed. It can be considered as a concept of the magnetoelectric enhancement of existing Bloch line memory invention.     

Controlled and reproducible domain wall displacement by current pulses injected into ferromagnetic ring structures

In a combined numerical and experimental study, we demonstrate that current pulses of different polarity can reversibly and controllably displace a magnetic domain wall (DW) in submicrometer permalloy (NiFe) ring structures. The critical current densities for DW displacement are correlated with the specific spin structure of the DWs and are compared to results of micromagnetic simulations including a spin-torque term. Using a notch, an attractive local pinning potential is created for the DW resulting in a highly reproducible spin structure of the DW, critical for reliable current-induced switching.     

Numerical method for hydrodynamic modulation equations describing Bloch oscillations in semiconductor superlattices

We present a finite difference method to solve a new type of nonlocal hydrodynamic equations that arise in the theory of spatially inhomogeneous Bloch oscillations in semiconductor superlattices. The hydrodynamic equations describe the evolution of the electron density, electric field and the complex amplitude of the Bloch oscillations for the electron current density and the mean energy density. These equations contain averages over the Bloch phase which are integrals of the unknown electric field and are derived by singular perturbation methods. Among the solutions of the hydrodynamic equations, at a 70 K lattice temperature, there are spatially inhomogeneous Bloch oscillations coexisting with moving electric field domains and Gunn-type oscillations of the current. At higher temperature (300 K) only Bloch oscillations remain. These novel solutions are found for restitution coefficients in a narrow interval below their critical values and disappear for larger values. We use an efficient numerical method based on an implicit second-order finite difference scheme for both the electric field equation (of drift-diffusion type) and the parabolic equation for the complex amplitude. Double integrals appearing in the nonlocal hydrodynamic equations are calculated by means of expansions in modified Bessel functions. We use numerical simulations to ascertain the convergence of the method. If the complex amplitude equation is solved using a first order scheme for restitution coefficients near their critical values, a spurious convection arises that annihilates the complex amplitude in the part of the superlattice that is closer to the cathode. This numerical artifact disappears if the space step is appropriately reduced or we use the second-order numerical scheme.     

Dynamics of a Néel domain wall with a fine structure in rare-earth orthoferrites

The dynamics of an isolated domain wall (DW) with a fine structure moving at a supersonic velocity in a rare-earth orthoferrite is studied. A set of nonlinear equations of motion of the center of a DW structure line is derived. A steady-state solution to these equations adequately describes the experimental data for yttrium orthoferrite. The effect of an external magnetic field on the steady-state velocity of a DW with structural lines is investigated.     

Numerical simulation of wall dynamics in (111)-oriented garnet films in the presence of an in-plane magnetic field

The domain wall motion in the presence of an in-plane magnetic field H_y perpendicular to the wall is simulated using a fall implicit numerical scheme. Calculations are performed for the drive fields 0 Oe<H_z<15 Oe and in-plane fields -210 Oe?H_y?210 Oe. The relation between the average wall velocity $\text{v}$ and the drive field H_z is discussed considering the wall structure. It was found that an in-plane field increases the peak velocity of the wall and extends the range of the drive fields, where the linear mobility relation is valid. A dynamical Bloch line stacking was found for sufficiently large drives. The influence of an in-plane field on the angular span of horizontal Bloch lines is discussed also. In particular the occurrence of 2π-horizontal Bloch lines is described. Numerical results obtained with a full implicit method are compared with the experimental observations of bubble motion and good agreement is found for |H_y|≤100 Oe.     

Bloch oscillations for circularly polarized light

All previous investigations on the Bloch oscillations of waves focus on scalar waves. Here we demonstrate, for the first time, the existence of Bloch oscillations of vector fields for circularly polarized light (CPL) propagating through a designed liquid crystal structure. To obtain the Wannier-Stark ladder of the CPL, we have designed a cholesteric liquid crystal structure with spatially varying pitch. The Bloch oscillations of the CPL have been observed in such a structure by exact numerical simulations. We have also shown that such a phenomenon can be easily detected in time-resolved reflection experiments.     

Néel lines in ferrimagnetic garnet epilayers with orthorhombic anisotropy and canted magnetization

Néel lines in (TbY)₃(FeAl)₅O₁₂ epitaxial layers with orthorhombic anisotropy and canted magnetization are optically observed by the presence of a kink of the wall plane. The intrinsically asymmetrical character of Bloch walls is demonstrated by wall widening experiments. It follows that wall kinking may either be a consequence of the anisotropy specific to the samples, and/or be the result of magnetostatic interactions. A relaxation type numerical computation of the Néel line configuration indicates that anisotropy is the main source of wall kinking, demagnetizing field effects contributing to an amplification of the kink. The structure of those Néel lines is shown to bear two characters, that of a half-circular line characteristic of samples with in-plane anisotropy and that of a splay line, well known in bubble materials. Further, the charge distribution appears basically dipolar and lines contract when the saturation magnetization increases. They are therefore magnetostatistically analogous to vertical Néel (most generally called Bloch) lines in garnet epilayers supporting bubbles.     

Determination of band structure in one-dimensional complex photonic crystals: A bandedge approach

We present a numerical stable method to easily compute bandgaps of one-dimensional complex basis photonic crystals using novel bandedge equations rather than the traditional dispersion equation. The bandedge equations are derived by the concept of scattering matrix and concisely expressed by the transport coefficients with operations of multiplication and addition only. It is not required to calculate the global transfer matrix or the cosine of Bloch phase to avoid numerical instability. Moreover, we present closed-form expressions to calculate the global scattering matrix without using recursive computation. Finally, numerical examples show that use of the derived bandedge equation has better numerical stability than using the traditional dispersion equation for the band structure analysis.     

Analysis of a transmission line periodically loaded with position-modulated loads

The dispersion characteristics of a periodically loaded transmission line is engineered via varying the amplitudes and/or positions of the periodic shunt loads. The band diagram of the periodic structure is obtained using two approaches: the Bloch–Floquet approach and a Green’s function-based approach. The effect of both amplitude and position modulation on the band diagram is discussed, to provide a step to bandgap engineering of the structure.     

Formulation of Zeeman modulation as a signal filter

The Bloch equation containing a Zeeman modulation field is solved analytically by treating the Zeeman modulation frequency as a perturbation. The absorption and dispersion signals at both 0 degrees and 90 degrees modulation phase are obtained. The solutions are valid to first order in the modulation frequency, but are otherwise valid for any value of modulation amplitude or microwave amplitude. A first order treatment of modulation frequency is shown to be a valid approximation over a wide range of typical experimental EPR conditions. The solutions derived from the Bloch equation suggest that the effect of over-modulation on first and second harmonic EPR spectra can be formulated as a mathematical filter that smoothes and broadens the under-modulated signal. The only adjustable filter parameter is a width that is equivalent to the applied peak-to-peak modulation amplitude. The true spin-spin and spin-lattice relaxation rates are completely determined from the under-modulated spectrum. The filters derived from the analytic solutions of the Bloch equation in the linear limit of modulation frequency are tested against numerical solutions of the Bloch equation that are valid for any modulation frequency to show their applicability. The filters are further tested using experimental EPR spectra. Experimental under-modulated spectra are mathematically filtered and compared with the experimental over-modulated spectra. The application of modulation filters to STEPR spectra is explored and limitations are discussed.     

Transition micromagnetic structures in asymmetric vortexlike domain walls (Static solutions and dynamic reconstructions)

The possible types of transition structures with a three-dimensional magnetization distribution over regions in the vortex asymmetric domain walls that exist in magnetically uniaxial soft magnetic films with in-plane anisotropy are studied by computer simulation in terms of a micromagnetic approach. It is shown that the possible structure types include both the type of vertical Bloch lines that was discussed earlier in other works and new types, namely, singular (Bloch) points and clusters consisting of vertical Bloch lines and Bloch points. The spatial configurations of the transition structures are calculated and their topological properties are found. The numerical simulation of the dynamics of closely spaced substructure regions reveals various scenarios of their interaction, including annihilation accompanied by energy release and the excitation of nonlinear waves.     

Effects of Bloch lines and Bloch points on resonances of magnetic bubbles

Resonant spectra of 180° domain-wall oscillations in isolated magnetic bubbles are obtained with swept rf sinusoidal excitation and magnetooptic detection. The resonant frequencies are found to depend on the domain wall state. A quantitative micromagnetic theory involving contributions to the wall mass from already-present vertical Bloch lines with and without Bloch points explains the resonant frequencies, including their field dependence, and relates them to the wall states. It is found that for small in-plane fields, Bloch lines provide most of the effective wall mass. Moreover, if a Bloch point is present on a Bloch line, it tends to decrease the Bloch-line mass contribution.     

Magnetic field driven domain-wall propagation in magnetic nanowires

The mechanism of magnetic field induced magnetic domain-wall (DW) propagation in a nanowire is revealed: A static DW cannot exist in a homogeneous magnetic nanowire when an external magnetic field is applied. Thus, a DW must vary with time under a static magnetic field. A moving DW must dissipate energy due to the Gilbert damping. As a result, the wire has to release its Zeeman energy through the DW propagation along the field direction. The DW propagation speed is proportional to the energy dissipation rate that is determined by the DW structure. The negative differential mobility in the intermediate field is due to the transition from high energy dissipation at low field to low energy dissipation at high field. For the field larger than the so-called Walker breakdown field, DW plane precesses around the wire, leading to the propagation speed oscillation.     

Dynamics of domain walls with drifting Bloch lines in single crystals of yttrium iron garnet

Induction and magnetic methods are used to study the effect of drifting Bloch lines on the wall velocity in a single crystal sample of yttrium iron garnet cut in the form of a long prism with only one 180-degree domain wall. A sharp increase in the velocity and in resonance bending vibrations of the wall are observed when Bloch line drift is initiated. The character of the wall motion is investigated under these conditions. An analysis of the experimental data shows that the effective reduction in the influence of drifting Bloch lines on the characteristics of the wall motion may be related to a magnetic aftereffect phenomenon. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 115, 1377–1385 (April 1999)     

Mikromagnetisch singuläre punkte in bubbles

The magnetization pattern of a vertical Bloch line in a bubble wall containing a singular point in its center is investigated by a variational method. Introducing a hypothetical intermediate structure, the energy of such a configuration can be separated into two parts: one which describes a local embedding energy for the singular point, and one which may be derived from the structure of the domain wall only. The results indicate that above a critical film thickness Bloch lines containing a singular point represent, in agreement with a prediction by Slonczewski, the energetically most favourable configuration.     

Theoretical analysis of a large momentum beamsplitter using Bloch oscillations

In this paper, we present the implementation of Bloch oscillations in an atomic interferometer to increase the separation of the two interfering paths. A numerical model, in very good agreement with the experiment, is developed. The contrast of the interferometer and its sensitivity to phase fluctuations and to intensity fluctuations are also calculated. We demonstrate that the sensitivity to phase fluctuations can be significantly reduced by using a suitable arrangement of Bloch oscillations pulses.     

Radiative Transport in a Periodic Structure

We derive radiative transport equations for solutions of a Schrödinger equation in a periodic structure with small random inhomogeneities. We use systematically the Wigner transform and the Bloch wave expansion. The streaming part of the radiative transport equations is determined entirely by the Bloch spectrum, and the scattering part by the random fluctuations.