Phonon and magnon jets above the critical current in nanowires with planar domain walls

Abstract

We show through non-equilibrium non-adiabatic electron-spin-lattice simulations that above a critical current in magnetic atomic wires with a narrow domain wall (DW), a couple of atomic spaces in width, the electron flow triggers violent stimulated emission of phonons and magnons with an almost complete conversion of the incident electron momentum flux into a phonon and magnon flux. Just below the critical levels of the current flow, the DW achieves maximal velocity of about $3\times 10^{4}$ m/s, entering a strongly non-adiabatic regime of DW propagation, followed by a breakdown at higher biases. Above this threshold a further increase of the current with the applied bias is impossible -- the electronic current suffers a heavy suppression and the DW stops. This poses a fundamental limit to the current densities attainable in atomic wires. At the same time it opens up an exciting way of generating the alternative quasi-particle currents, described above, once the requisite electronic-structure properties are met.