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MiS Preprint
33/2012

A reduced model for domain walls in soft ferromagnetic films at the cross-over from symmetric to asymmetric wall types.

Lukas Döring, Radu Ignat and Felix Otto

Abstract

We study the Landau-Lifshitz model for the energy of multi-scale transition layers -- called "domain walls" -- in soft ferromagnetic films. Domain walls separate domains of constant magnetization vectors $m^\pm \in \mathbb{S}^2$ that differ by an angle $2\alpha$. Assuming translation invariance tangential to the wall, our main result is the rigorous derivation of a reduced model for the energy of the optimal transition layer, which in a certain parameter regime confirms the experimental, numerical and physical predictions: The minimal energy splits into a contribution from an asymmetric, divergence-free core which performs a partial rotation in $\mathbb{S}^2$ by an angle $2\theta$, and a contribution from two symmetric, logarithmically decaying tails, each of which completes the rotation from angle $\theta$ to $\alpha$ in $\mathbb{S}^1$. The angle $\theta$ is chosen such that the total energy is minimal. The contribution from the symmetric tails is known explicitly, while the contribution from the asymmetric core is analyzed asymptotically and numerically in [7].

Our reduced model is the starting point for the analysis of a bifurcation phenomenon from symmetric to asymmetric domain walls. Moreover, it allows for capturing asymmetric domain walls including their extended tails, which were previously inaccessible to brute-force numerical simulation.

Received:
Jun 13, 2012
Published:
Jun 14, 2012
MSC Codes:
49S05, 49J45, 78A30, 35B32, 35B36
Keywords:
thin-film micromagnetics, domain walls, gamma convergence, reduced model

Related publications

inJournal
2014 Repository Open Access
Lukas Döring, Radu Ignat and Felix Otto

A reduced model for domain walls in soft ferromagnetic films at the cross-over from symmetric to asymmetric wall types

In: Journal of the European Mathematical Society, 16 (2014) 7, pp. 1377-1422