Local Domain-Wall Velocity Engineering via Tailored Potential Landscapes in Ferromagnetic Rings

We report the local control of the domain-wall velocity by tailoring the domain-wall potential landscape via local variations of a curved ring geometry. Employing time-resolved scanning-transmission x-ray microscopy, we dynamically image the motion of domain walls in rotating magnetic fields and quantify the contribution of the spatially varying potential to the domain-wall dynamics. We explain our experimentally obtained angular dependences of domain-wall velocities by the interplay between long-range forces arising from the Zeeman interaction of domain walls with the external magnetic field with local forces arising from variations of domain-wall energy due to a varying ring width. The interplay of these forces leads to distortion-free wall motion, and we use the engineered domain-wall potential landscape for spatial synchronization of domain-wall velocities in ferromagnetic rings, which are both a key prerequisite for the implementation of domain-wall-based devices.