English

Strain-Driven Domain Walls in Antiferromagnets

Materials Science 2026-06-28 v1 Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics

Abstract

We derive an equation describing domain wall motion in antiferromagnets under the influence of normal strain. From this equation, we find that the domain wall moves towards positions where εxx\varepsilon_{xx} is high and εzz\varepsilon_{zz} is low. Furthermore, each strain component leads to a different terminal velocity for the same strain profile. This difference arises because both strains affect the domain wall width in opposite ways: εxx\varepsilon_{xx} reduces the width, whereas εzz\varepsilon_{zz} increases it. The model is then compared with mumax+^+ simulations for various strain profiles, including a strain gradient, an oscillating strain, and a Rayleigh wave. The comparison shows good agreement between the analytical and numerical results. Finally, we demonstrate the potential of standing surface acoustic waves as an error correction method in racetrack memory.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2606.29258,
  title  = {Strain-Driven Domain Walls in Antiferromagnets},
  author = {Diego De Gusem and Arnaud Nizet and Bartel Van Waeyenberge},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2606.29258},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

10 pages, 10 figures

R2 v1 2026-07-22T20:15:18.676Z