Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access

Current- and field-driven domain wall dynamics and chirality switching in a planar helimagnet

Roman Teslia and Oleksiy Kolezhuk

Phys. Rev. B 114, 214408 – Published 9 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/nf2n-tsrx

Abstract

We study the effect of electric current and magnetic field on the dynamics of chirality in a helimagnet with a strong easy-plane anisotropy. Using a continuum theory derived for a quasi-one-dimensional frustrated ferromagnet close to the Lifshitz point, we show that a domain wall connecting domains with opposite chiralities can be driven by the current via the dissipative (nonadiabatic) component of the spin-transfer torque. Further, it is demonstrated that the adiabatic part of the torque in the presence of a magnetic field breaks the symmetry of the effective magnetic potential energy with respect to the chirality. We show that the leading symmetry-breaking term arises in the third order in the magnetization gradient, and derive the conditions for chirality switching. Our conclusions are supported by numerical spin-lattice simulations.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (25)

  1. Edited by C. Lacroix, P. Mendels, and F. Mila, Introduction to Frustrated Magnetism: Materials, Experiments, Theory, Springer Series in Solid-State Science Vol. 164 (Springer, Berlin, 2011).
  2. J.-I. Kishine, I. V. Proskurin, and A. S. Ovchinnikov, Tuning magnetotransport through a magnetic kink crystal in a chiral helimagnet, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 017205 (2011).
  3. M. N. Wilson, E. A. Karhu, D. P. Lake, A. S. Quigley, S. Meynell, A. N. Bogdanov, H. Fritzsche, U. K. Rößler, and T. L. Monchesky, Discrete helicoidal states in chiral magnetic thin films, Phys. Rev. B 88, 214420 (2013).
  4. N. Jiang, Y. Nii, H. Arisawa, E. Saitoh, and Y. Onose, Electric current control of spin helicity in an itinerant helimagnet, Nat. Commun. 11, 1601 (2020).
  5. H. Masuda, T. Seki, J.-I. Ohe, Y. Nii, H. Masuda, K. Takanashi, and Y. Onose, Room temperature chirality switching and detection in a helimagnetic MnAu2 thin film, Nat. Commun. 15, 1999 (2024).
  6. J.-i. Ohe and Y. Onose, Chirality control of the spin structure in monoaxial helimagnets by charge current, Appl. Phys. Lett. 118, 042407 (2021).
  7. A. Hubert, Theorie der Domänenwände in Geordneten Medien (Springer, Berlin, 1974).
  8. P. I. Melnichuk, A. N. Bogdanov, U. K. Rößler, and K.-H. Müller, Hubert model for modulated states in systems with competing exchange interactions, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 248, 142 (2002).
  9. F. Li, T. Nattermann, and V. L. Pokrovsky, Vortex domain walls in helical magnets, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 107203 (2012).
  10. T. Dombre and N. Read, Nonlinear σ models for triangular quantum antiferromagnets, Phys. Rev. B 39, 6797 (1989).
  11. D. Allen and D. Sénéchal, Semiclassical description of the frustrated antiferromagnetic chain, Phys. Rev. B 51, 6394 (1995).
  12. B. I. Shraiman and E. D. Siggia, Mobile vacancies in a quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet, Phys. Rev. Lett. 61, 467 (1988).
  13. Y. B. Bazaliy, B. A. Jones, and S.-C. Zhang, Modification of the Landau-Lifshitz equation in the presence of a spin-polarized current in colossal- and giant-magnetoresistive materials, Phys. Rev. B 57, R3213 (1998).
  14. H. Kohno and J. Shibata, Gauge field formulation of adiabatic spin torques, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 76, 063710 (2007).
  15. G. Tatara, H. Kohno, and J. Shibata, Microscopic approach to current-driven domain wall dynamics, Phys. Rep. 468, 213 (2008).
  16. O. Kolezhuk, R. Teslia, I. Buryak, and O. Gomonay, Current-controlled chirality dynamics in a mesoscopic magnetic domain wall, Phys. Rev. B 109, 134418 (2024).
  17. Y.-M. Xie, Y. Liu, and N. Nagaosa, Sliding dynamics of current-driven skyrmion crystal and helix in chiral magnets, Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 096702 (2024).
  18. Y. Kimoto, H. Masuda, T. Seki, Y. Nii, J.-i. Ohe, Y. Nambu, and Y. Onose, Current-induced sliding motion in a helimagnet MnAu2, Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 056702 (2025).
  19. D. Yamaguchi, A. Kitaori, N. Nagaosa, and Y. Tokura, Current control of spin helicity and nonreciprocal charge transport in a multiferroic conductor, Adv. Mater. 37, 2420614 (2025).
  20. H. Masuda, J.-i. Ohe, Y. Nii, S. Kimura, and Y. Onose, Critically-enhanced nonreciprocal electronic transport at magnetic phase boundary in a room temperature helimagnet YMn6Sn6, Phys. Rev. Res. 7, 033019 (2025).
  21. H. Masuda, Y. Yanagisawa, K. Ohishi, Y. Nambu, Y. Nii, and Y. Onose, Direct demonstration of electric chirality control in a helimagnetic YMn6Sn6 by spin-polarized neutron scattering, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 123, e2600410123 (2026).
  22. J. S. Broz, H. B. Braun, O. Brodbeck, W. Baltensperger, and J. S. Helman, Nucleation of magnetization reversal via creation of pairs of Bloch walls, Phys. Rev. Lett. 65, 787 (1990).
  23. H.-B. Braun, Thermally activated magnetization reversal in elongated ferromagnetic particles, Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 3557 (1993).
  24. J. J. Rhyne and A. E. Clark, Magnetic anisotropy of terbium and dysprosium, J. Appl. Phys. 38, 1379 (1967).
  25. R. Teslia and O. Kolezhuk, 1D spin-lattice simulator adjusted for studying J1-J2 helimagnets, [Computer software] Zenodo, 2026, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21567827.

Outline

Information

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation