Control of domain wall thickness by spatial modulation of uniaxial anisotropy and exchange stiffness parameters

The effect of spatial modulation of the uniaxial anisotropy (K) and exchange stiffness (A) parameters on the domain wall thickness was theoretically studied. We derived the Euler-Lagrange equation and the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation considering the modulation of K and A, and showed that the modulation of A gives rise to an additional term consisting of the first derivatives of A and the magnetization unit vector. Owing to this term, the modulation of A is more effective to modify the domain wall thickness than K. The condition for domain wall pinning by controlling its thickness through the modulation of K and A was also obtained. (C) 2015 The Japan Society of Applied Physics