Fast vortex wall motion in wide permalloy strips from double switching of the vortex core

Abstract

We study vortex domain wall dynamics in wide permalloy strips driven by applied magnetic fields and spin-polarized electric currents. As recently reported [V. Estevez and L. Laurson, Phys. Rev. B 93, 064403 (2016)], for sufficiently wide strips and above a threshold field, periodic dynamics of the vortex core are localized in the vicinity of one of the strip edges, and the velocity drop typically observed for narrow strips is replaced by a high-velocity plateau. Here, we analyze this behavior in more detail by means of micromagnetic simulations. We show that the high-velocity plateau originates from a repeated double switching of the magnetic vortex core, underlying the periodic vortex core dynamics in the vicinity of the strip edge, i.e., the "attraction-repulsion" effect. We also discuss the corresponding dynamics driven by spin-polarized currents, as well as the effect of including quenched random structural disorder to the system.