Vortex polarity switching by a spin-polarized current

Authors:

Jean-Guy Caputo, Yuri Gaididei, Franz G. Mertens, Denis D. Sheka,

Publication:

Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 056604 (2007), 10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.056604

Comments:

4 pages, 3 figures

arXiv:

http://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0607362

The spin-transfer effect is investigated for the vortex state of a magnetic nanodot. A spin current is shown to act similarly to an effective magnetic field perpendicular to the nanodot. Then a vortex with magnetization (polarity) parallel to the current polarization is energetically favorable. Following a simple energy analysis and using direct spin-lattice simulations, we predict the polarity switching of a vortex. For magnetic storage devices, an electric current is more effective to switch the polarity of a vortex in a nanodot than the magnetic field.

Supplementary materials

Switching picture from numerical simulations on a square lattice with circular boundary.

Disk diamter 200a
Anisotropy coefficient 0.03 a
Damping coefficient 0.01
Degree of spin polarization 0.25
Spin current -0.003

Leave a Reply