Hysteresis mediated by a domain wall motion

Thomas Nattermann, Valery Pokrovsky

Published 2004-02-26Version 1

The position of an interface (domain wall) in a medium with random pinning defects is not determined unambiguously by a current value of the driving force even in average. Based on general theory of the interface motion in a random medium we study this hysteresis, different possible shapes of domain walls and dynamical phase transitions between them. Several principal characteristics of the hysteresis, including the coercive force and the curves of dynamical phase transitions obey scaling laws and display a critical behavior in a vicinity of the mobility threshold. At finite temperature the threshold is smeared and a new range of thermally activated hysteresis appears. At a finite frequency of the driving force there exists a range of the non-adiabatic regime, in which not only the position, but also the average velocity of the domain wall displays hysteresis.