Adiabatic Domain Wall Motion and Landau-Lifshitz Damping

Published

January 1, 2007

Author(s)

Mark D. Stiles, Wayne M. Saslow, Michael J. Donahue, A Zangwill

Abstract

Recent theory and measurements of the velocity of current-driven domain walls in magnetic nanowires have re-opened the unresolved question of whether Landau-Lifshitz damping or Gilbert damping provides the more natural description of dissipative magnetization dynamics. In this paper, we argue that (as in the past) experiment cannot distinguish the two, but that Landau- Lifshitz damping nevertheless provides the most physically sensible interpretation of the equation of motion. From this perspective, (i) adiabatic spin-transfer torque dominates the dynamics with small corrections from non-adiabatic effects; (ii) the damping always decreases the magnetic free energy, and (iii) microscopic calculations of damping become consistent with general statistical and thermodynamic considerations.

Citation

Physical Review B (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics)

Volume

75

Issue

21

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

current-induced domain wall motion, dissipation, irreversible processes, Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation, magnetization dynamics

Citation

Stiles, M. , Saslow, W. , Donahue, M. and Zangwill, A. (2007), Adiabatic Domain Wall Motion and Landau-Lifshitz Damping, Physical Review B (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics), [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=620595 (Accessed April 16, 2024)