Crossed-Ratchet Effects for Magnetic Domain Wall Motion

A. PEREZ-JUNQUERA; V. I. MARCONI; A. B. KOLTON; L. M.ALVAREZ-PRADO; Y. SOUCHE; A. ALIJA; M. VELEZ; J.V. ANGUITA; J. M. ALAMEDA; J. I. MARTıN; J. M. R. PARRONDO

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

The American Physical Society

Año: 2008 vol. 100 p. 372031 - 372034

0031-9007

We study both experimentally and theoretically the driven motion of domain walls in extendedamorphous magnetic films patterned with a periodic array of asymmetric holes. We find two crossed ratcheteffects of opposite sign that change the preferred sense for domain wall propagation, depending onwhether a flat or a kinked wall is moving. By solving numerically a simple $phi^4$-model we show that theessential physical ingredients for this effect are quite generic and could be realized in other experimentalsystems involving elastic interfaces moving in multidimensional ratchet potentials.