Periodic magnetic structures generated by spin–polarized currents in nanostripes

Abstract

The influence of a spin-polarized current on long ferromagnetic nanostripes is studied numerically. The current flows perpendicularly to the stripe. The study is based on the Landau-Lifshitz phenomenological equation with the Slonczewski-Berger spin-torque term. The magnetization behavior is analyzed for all range of the applied currents, up to the saturation. It is shown that the saturation current is a nonmonotonic function of the stripe width. For a stripe width increasing it approaches the saturation value for an infinite film. A number of stable periodic magnetization structures are observed below the saturation. Type of the periodical structure depends on the stripe width. Besides the one-dimensional domain structure, typical for narrow wires, and the two-dimensional vortex-antivortex lattice, typical for wide films, a number of intermediate structures are observed, e.g. cross-tie and diamond state. For narrow stripes an analytical analysis is provided.