Strain-mediated propagation of magnetic domain-walls in cubic magnetostrictive materials

Abstract

The role played by magnetoelastic effects on the properties exhibited by magnetic domain walls propagating along the major axis of a thin magnetostrictive nanostrip, coupled mechanically with a thick piezoelectric actuator, is theoretically investigated. The magnetostrictive layer is assumed to be a linear elastic material belonging to the cubic crystal classes $$\bar{4}$$3m, 432 and m$$\bar{3}$$m and to undergo isochoric magnetostrictive deformations. The analysis is carried out in the framework of the extended Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert equation, which allows to describe, at the mesoscale, the spatio-temporal evolution of the local magnetization vector driven by magnetic fields and electric currents, in the presence of magnetoelastic and magnetocrystalline anisotropy fields. Through the traveling-wave transformation, the explicit expression of the key features involved in both steady and precessional regimes is provided and a qualitative comparison with data from the literature is also presented.