Disentangling the physical contributions to the electrical resistance in magnetic domain walls: a multiscale study

Phys Rev Lett. 2012 Feb 17;108(7):077201. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.077201. Epub 2012 Feb 13.

Abstract

We analyze the origin of the electrical resistance arising in domain walls of perpendicularly magnetized materials by considering a superposition of anisotropic magnetoresistance and the resistance implied by the magnetization chirality. The domain wall profiles of L1(0)-FePd and L1(0)-FePt are determined by micromagnetic simulations based on which we perform first-principles calculations to quantify electron transport through the core and closure region of the walls. The wall resistance, being twice as high in L1(0)-FePd than in L1(0)-FePt, is found to be clearly dominated in both cases by a high gradient of magnetization rotation, which agrees well with experimental observations.