Self-consistent magnetization dynamics of a ferromagnetic quantum dot driven by a spin bias

Abstract

We present an iterative scheme which combines the non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) for evaluating the quantum spin transport in a ferromagnetic quantum dot device and the Landau-Lifshitz (LL) equation for modeling the magnetization dynamics of the dot. For a given initial magnetization, the spin polarization of current and the resulting spin torque in the dot are calculated using the NEGF formalism. The torque acts on the magnetic moment of the dot, and the resultant magnetization dynamics is obtained from the LL equation. The new value of the dot's magnetization is then used as an input for the next round of NEGF calculation, and the whole process is repeated iteratively. The spin torque is thus calculated self-consistently with the dynamics of the magnetic moment of the dot. We apply this self-consistent iterative scheme to study the magnetization dynamics in an exemplary quantum dot system with an induced spin bias in the leads under varying damping conditions. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.