Asymmetric driven dynamics of Dzyaloshinskii domain walls in ultrathin ferromagnetic strips with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy

• The asymmetric response of domain walls in bilayer strips with PMA is studied.
• Out-of-plane fields and SHE longitudinal currents are applied.
• The response is associated to the rotation of the domain wall inner magnetization.
• Clockwise and counter-clockwise magnetization rotations are not equivalent.
• The asymmetry results in different travelled distances and/or terminal speeds.

The dynamics of domain walls in ultrathin ferromagnetic strips with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy is studied from both numerical and analytical micromagnetics. The influence of a moderate interfacial Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction associated to a bi-layer strip arrangement has been considered, giving rise to the formation of Dzyaloshinskii domain walls. Such walls possess under equilibrium conditions an inner magnetization structure defined by a certain orientation angle that make them to be considered as intermediate configurations between Bloch and Néel walls. Two different dynamics are considered, a field-driven and a current-driven dynamics, in particular, the one promoted by the spin torque due to the spin-Hall effect. Results show an inherent asymmetry associated with the rotation of the domain wall magnetization orientation before reaching the stationary regime, characterized by a constant terminal speed. For a certain initial DW magnetization orientation at rest, the rotation determines whether the reorientation of the DW magnetization prior to reach stationary motion is smooth or abrupt. This asymmetry affects the DW motion, which can even reverse for a short period of time. Additionally, it is found that the terminal speed in the case of the current-driven dynamics may depend on either the initial DW magnetization orientation at rest or the sign of the longitudinally injected current.