Controlled spin-torque driven domain wall motion using staggered magnetic nanowires

Abstract: The growing demand for storage, due to big data applications, cannot be met by hard disk drives. Domain wall (DW) memory devices such as racetrack memory offer an alternative route to achieve high capacity storage. In DW memory, control of domain wall positions and their motion using spin-transfer torque are important challenges. In this paper, we demonstrate controlled domain wall motion using spin-transfer torque in staggered magnetic nanowires. The devices, fabricated using electron-beam lithography, were tested using a magneto-optical Kerr microscopy and electrical transport measurements. The depinning current, pinning potential and thermal stability were found to depend on the device dimensions of the staggering nanowires. Thus, the proposed staggering configuration helps to fine-tune the properties of domain wall devices for memory applications.