Chirality switching in ferromagnetic nanostructures via nanosecond electric pulses

Abstract

The stability of magnetism in reduced dimensions has become a major scientific agenda in the pursuit of implementing magnetic nanostructures as functional components in spintronic devices. Methods to probe and control magnetization states of such structures in a deterministic manner include use of spin polarized currents, photon absorption, and relatively recently, electric fields that tailor magnetoelectric coupling in multiferroic based structures. In theory, a short electric pulse is able to generate localized magnetic fields that can couple to the local magnetic dipoles electrodynamically. Here, using the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert formalism of magnetism dynamics combined with continuum Maxwell relations, the response of a ferromagnetic permalloy nanodisc to nanosecond electric field pulses is studied. The dynamics of the magnetic order of the nanodiscs during this process are examined and discussed. Ferromagnet nanodiscs, when below a critical size and in the absence of any external field, relax to a vortex phase as the ground state due to the demagnetizing field. Simulations demonstrate that the planar chirality of such a ferromagnet nanodisc can be switched via a time-wise asymmetric electric field pulse on the order of a few ns duration that generates radially varying tangential magnetic fields. These fields couple to the vortex state of the nanodisc ferromagnet electrodynamically, revealing an effective and robust method to control chirality.