Highly Efficient Current-driven Magnetic Domain Wall Motion in a Room Temperature van der Waal ferromagnet Fe₃GaTe₂

Energy-efficient manipulation of magnetic domain wall by electrical current, especially at room temperature remains one of main challenges in spintronics. While current-induced magnetic domain wall motion in ferromagnets via spin-transfer torque has been demonstrated at room temperature, its conversion efficiency, quantified as the ratio of effective magnetic field H_eff to current density J, is relatively low with values typically μ₀H_eff/J ~ 10^-13 Tm²/A. Here, we report highly efficient current-induced domain wall motion in a room temperature van der Waals ferromagnet Fe₃GaTe₂. From measuring current-dependent depinning fields of a domain wall, we observed high conversion efficiency, μ₀H_eff/J ~ 3 x 10^-12 Tm²/A, the highest reported for ferromagnetic materials at room temperature and surpassing the theoretical upper bound for conventional spin-transfer torque. Utilizing this enhanced efficiency, we achieved field-free magnetization switching through domain wall motion with a low critical current density, J_c ∼ 2×10¹⁰ A/m² at room temperatures. The possible origins will be discussed in terms of intrinsic spin-orbit torque due to broken inversion symmetry [1,2] or the topological Hall torque induced by Berry curvature of topological nodal-line states [3]. ​Our findings position Fe₃GaTe₂ as a promising platform for energy-efficient spintronic applications at room temperature.





[1] O. Johansen, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 122 (21), 217203 (2019).

[2] K. Zhang, et al., Advanced Materials, 33 (4), 2004110 (2021).

[3] M. Yamanouchi, et al., Science Advances, 8, eabl6192 (2022).