Analytical theory of modulated magnetic solitons

Abstract: Droplet solitons are coherently precessing solitary waves that have been recently realized in thin ferromagnets with perpendicular anisotropy.In the strongly nonlinear regime, droplets can be well approximated by a slowly precessing, circular domain wall with a hyperbolic tangent form. Utilizing this representation, this work develops a general droplet modulation theory and applies it to study the long range effects of the magnetostatic field and a nanocontact spin torque oscillator (NC-STO) where spin polarized currents act as a gain source to counteract magnetic damping. An analysis of the dynamical equations for the droplet's center, frequency and phase demonstrates a negative processional frequency shift due to long range dipolar interactions, dependent on film thickness. Further analysis also demonstrates the onset of a saddle-node bifurcation at the minimum sustaining current for the NC-STO. The basin of attraction associated with the stable node demonstrates that spin torque enacts a restoring force to excursions of the droplet from the nanocontact center, observed previously in numerical simulations. Large excursions lead to the droplet's eventual decay into spin waves.