Current-controlled nanomagnetic writing for reconfigurable magnonic crystals

• Published in: Communications physics Vol. 3; no. 1
• Main Authors: Gartside, Jack C., Jung, Son G., Yoo, Seung Y., Arroo, Daan M., Vanstone, Alex, Dion, Troy, Stenning, Kilian D., Branford, Will R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 30.11.2020; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 639/766/1130/2798; 639/766/119/1001; 639/925/927/1062; Arrays; Domain walls; Ferromagnetism; Magnetic fields; Nanowires; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Reconfiguration; Transistors
• ISSN: 2399-3650; 2399-3650
• DOI: 10.1038/s42005-020-00487-y

Strongly-interacting nanomagnetic arrays are crucial across an ever-growing suite of technologies. Spanning neuromorphic computing, control over superconducting vortices and reconfigurable magnonics, the utility and appeal of these arrays lies in their vast range of distinct, stable magnetization states. Different states exhibit different functional behaviours, making precise, reconfigurable state control an essential cornerstone of such systems. However, few existing methodologies may reverse an arbitrary array element, and even fewer may do so under electrical control, vital for device integration. We demonstrate selective, reconfigurable magnetic reversal of ferromagnetic nanoislands via current-driven motion of a transverse domain wall in an adjacent nanowire. The reversal technique operates under all-electrical control with no reliance on external magnetic fields, rendering it highly suitable for device integration across a host of magnonic, spintronic and neuromorphic logic architectures. Here, the reversal technique is leveraged to realize two fully solid-state reconfigurable magnonic crystals, offering magnonic gating, filtering, transistor-like switching and peak-shifting without reliance on global magnetic fields. Precise electrical control of magnetic states in interacting nanomagnetic arrays is a requirement for these devices to be suitable for versatile low-power applications. Here, using simulations, the authors demonstrate reversible control of magnetic nanoislands using the current driven motion of a domain wall in an adjacent nanowire.