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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 98 » Issue 5
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 056604 (2007) [4 pages]

Vortex Polarity Switching by a Spin-Polarized Current

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Jean-Guy Caputo1,2,*, Yuri Gaididei3,†, Franz G. Mertens4,‡, and Denis D. Sheka5,§
1Laboratoire de Mathématiques, INSA de Rouen, B.P. 8, 76131 Mont-Saint-Aignan cedex, France
2Laboratoire de Physique Theorique et Modelisation, Université de Cergy-Pontoise and CNRS, Cergy-Pontoise, France
3Institute for Theoretical Physics, 03143 Kiev, Ukraine
4Physics Institute, University of Bayreuth, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany
5National Taras Shevchenko University of Kiev, 03127 Kiev, Ukraine

Received 30 July 2006; published 1 February 2007

The spin-transfer effect is investigated for the vortex state of a magnetic nanodot. A spin current is shown to act similarly to an effective magnetic field perpendicular to the nanodot. Then a vortex with magnetization (polarity) parallel to the current polarization is energetically favorable. Following a simple energy analysis and using direct spin-lattice simulations, we predict the polarity switching of a vortex. For magnetic storage devices, an electric current is more effective to switch the polarity of a vortex in a nanodot than the magnetic field.

© 2007 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.056604
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.056604
PACS:
72.25.Ba, 05.45.−a, 75.10.Hk, 75.40.Mg

*Electronic address: caputo@insa-rouen.fr

†Electronic address: ybg@bitp.kiev.ua

‡Electronic address: franz.mertens@uni-bayreuth.de

§Electronic address: denis_sheka@univ.kiev.ua

 
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