Adiabatic domain wall motion and Landau-Lifshitz damping Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Recent theory and measurements of the velocity of current-driven domain walls in magnetic nanowires have reopened 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 nonadiabatic effects, (ii) the damping always decreases the magnetic free energy, and (iii) microscopic calculations of damping become consistent with general statistical and thermodynamic considerations. 2007 The American Physical Society.

published proceedings

  • PHYSICAL REVIEW B

altmetric score

  • 3

author list (cited authors)

  • Stiles, M. D., Saslow, W. M., Donahue, M. J., & Zangwill, A.

citation count

  • 74

complete list of authors

  • Stiles, MD||Saslow, WM||Donahue, MJ||Zangwill, A

publication date

  • June 2007