Domain wall propagation dynamics has been studied in nanostructured artificial kagome spin-ice structures. A stripline circuit has been used to provide localized pulsed magnetic fields within the artificial spin-ice (ASI) structure. This provides control of the system through electrically assisted domain wall nucleation events. Synchronization of the pulsed fields with additional global magnetic fields and the use of a focused magneto-optical Kerr effect magnetometer allows our experiments to probe the domain wall transit through an extended ASI structure. We find that the propagation distance depends on the driving field revealing field-driven properties of domain walls below their intrinsic nucleation field.

• Received 12 August 2016
• Revised 27 February 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.95.104417