Patent ID: 7492622

Claim:
A method for depinning a domain wall, comprising applying at least two current pulses to a domain wall that is in spatial confinement by a pinning potential to within a local region of a magnetic device, wherein the at least two current pulses are bipolar pulses, wherein each current pulse has a pulse length of about 50% of a precession period of the domain wall motion and the current pulses are separated from each other by a pulse interval of about 50% of the precession period such that: the at least two current pulses are configured to cause a depinning of the domain wall such that the domain wall moves with sufficient energy to escape the spatial confinement, and each current pulse has an amplitude of more than a factor of 10 less than the minimum amplitude of a direct current that would cause said depinning if the direct current were applied to the domain wall instead of the at least two current pulses; wherein the method further comprises applying an external magnetic field to the domain wall concurrent with said applying the at least two current pulses to the domain wall, said applied external magnetic field configured to reduce a minimum amplitude of current required of the applied at least two current pulses to cause said depinning, to less than a minimum amplitude of current that would be required of the at least two current pulses to cause said depinning if said external magnetic field were not applied to the domain wall; wherein the magnetic device is a magnetic shift register comprising a track of alternating domains of ferromagnetic material, wherein the domain wall is between and in direct contact with a first domain and a second domain of the alternating domains, wherein the first domain comprises a first ferromagnetic material, and wherein the second domain comprises a second ferromagnetic material that differs from the first ferromagnetic material to create the pinning potential.