Joule heating and current-induced instabilities in magnetic nanocontacts

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A. Kadigrobov,^1,2 S. I. Kulinich,^1,3 R. I. Shekhter,¹ M. Jonson,¹ and V. Korenivski⁴
¹Department of Physics, Göteborg University, SE-412 96 Göteborg, Sweden
²Theoretische Physik III, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany
³B. I. Verkin Institute for Low Temperature Physics and Engineering, 47 Lenin Avenue, 61103 Kharkov, Ukraine
⁴Nanostructure Physics, Royal Institute of Technology, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden

Received 13 June 2006; revised 15 September 2006; published 7 November 2006

Weconsider the electrical current through a magnetic point contact inthe limit of a strong inelastic scattering of electrons. Inthis limit local Joule heating of the contact region playsa decisive role in determining the transport properties of thepoint contact. We show that if an applied constant biasvoltage exceeds a critical value, the stationary state of thesystem is unstable, and that periodic, nonharmonic oscillations in timeof both the electrical current through the contact and thelocal temperature in the contact region develop spontaneously. Our estimationsshow that the necessary experimental conditions for observing such oscillationswith characteristic frequencies in the range 10⁸–10⁹ Hz can easily bemet. We also show a possibility to manipulate upon themagnetization direction of a magnetic grain coupled through a pointcontact to a bulk ferromagnet by exciting the above-mentioned thermal-electricoscillations.

URL:	http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.74.195307
DOI:	10.1103/PhysRevB.74.195307
PACS:	73.23.-b; 81.07.Lk; 75.47.-m; 72.20.Ht 73.23.-b Electronic transport in mesoscopic systems 81.07.Lk Nanocontacts: fabrication and characterization 75.47.-m Magnetotransport phenomena; materials for magnetotransport 72.20.Ht High-field transport and nonlinear effects (semiconductors/insulators) YEAR: 2006
KEYWORDS:	nanocontacts, ferromagnetism, magnetisation, heating

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