Nanometer scale observation of high efficiency thermally assisted current-driven domain wall depinning

Nanometer scale observation of the depinning of a narrow domain wall (DW) under a spin current is reported. We studied approximately 12 nm wide 1D Bloch DWs created in thin films exhibiting perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Magnetotransport measurements reveal thermally assisted current-driven DW motion between pinning sites separated by as little as 20 nm. The efficiency of current-driven DW motion assisted by thermal fluctuations is measured to be orders of magnitude higher than has been found for in-plane magnetized films, allowing us to control DW motion on a nanometer scale at low current densities.