Voltage-Gated Modulation of Domain Wall Velocity in an Ultrathin Metallic Ferromagnet

The influence of gate voltage, temperature and magnetic field on domain wall (DW) creep dynamics is investigated in Pt/Co/GdOx films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and imaged by a scanning magneto-optical Kerr effect technique. The DW creep velocity can be controlled by an electric field applied to the Co/GdOx interface via a linear modulation of the activation energy barrier with gate voltage. At low speeds, the DW velocity can be changed significantly by a gate voltage, but the effect is diminished as the DW velocity increases, which limits electric field control of fast DW motion.