Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert equation

In physics, the Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert equation, named for Lev Landau, Evgeny Lifshitz, and T. L. Gilbert, is a name used for a differential equation
describing the precessional motion of magnetization M in a solid. It is a modification by Gilbert of the original equation of Landau and Lifshitz.

The various forms of the equation are commonly used in micromagnetics to model the effects of a magnetic field on ferromagnetic materials. In particular it
can be used to model the time domain behavior of magnetic elements due to a magnetic field.[1] An additional term was added to the equation to describe the
effect of spin polarized current on magnets.[2]

Landau–Lifshitz equation
In a ferromagnet, the magnitude of the magnetization M at each point equals the saturation magnetization Ms (although it can
be smaller when averaged over a chunk of volume). The Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert equation predicts the rotation of the
magnetization in response to torques. An earlier, but equivalent, equation (the Landau–Lifshitz equation) was introduced by
Landau & Lifshitz (1935):[3][4][5]

The terms of the Landau–

Lifshitz–Gilbert equation:
precession (red) and
damping (blue). The
trajectory of the
magnetization (dotted spiral)
is drawn under the
simplifying assumption that
the effective field Heff is
constant.

 
 

 
 
(1)

where γ is the electron gyromagnetic ratio and λ is a phenomenological damping parameter, often replaced by

where α is a dimensionless constant called the damping factor. The effective field Heff is a combination of the external magnetic field, the demagnetizing field
(magnetic field due to the magnetization), and some quantum mechanical effects. To solve this equation, additional equations for the demagnetizing field must
be included.

Using the methods of irreversible statistical mechanics, numerous authors have independently obtained the Landau–Lifshitz equation.[6][7][8]

Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert equation
In 1955 Gilbert replaced the damping term in the Landau–Lifshitz (LL) equation by one that depends on the time derivative of the magnetization:

 
 

 
 
(2b)

This is the Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert (LLG) equation, where η is the damping parameter, which is characteristic of the material. It can be transformed into the
Landau–Lifshitz equation:[3]

 
 

 
 
(2a)

where

In this form of the LL equation, the precessional term γ' depends on the damping term. This better represents the behavior of real ferromagnets when the
damping is large.[9][10]

Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert–Slonczewski equation
In 1996 Slonczewski expanded the model to account for the spin-transfer torque, i.e. the torque induced upon the magnetization by spin-polarized current
flowing through the ferromagnet. This is commonly written in terms of the unit moment defined by m = M / MS:

where is the dimensionless damping parameter, and are driving torques, and x is the unit vector along the polarization of the current.[11][12]

References and footnotes

1. Yang, Bo. "Numerical Studies of Dynamical Micromagnetics" (htt
p://physics.ucsd.edu/~drf/pub/bo-thesis.ps.gz). Retrieved
8 August 2011.
2. d’Aquino, Massimiliano (2004). "2.6.1 Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert
equation with Slonczewski spin-transfer torque term". Nonlinear
Magnetization Dynamics in Thin-films and Nanoparticles (http://w
page.unina.it/mdaquino/PhD_thesis/main/node47.html). PhD
Thesis, University of Naples Federico II.
3. Aharoni, Amikam (1996). Introduction to the Theory of
Ferromagnetism (https://archive.org/details/introductiontoth00aha
r). Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-851791-7.
4. *Brown, Jr., William Fuller (1978) [Originally published in 1963].
Micromagnetics. Robert E. Krieger Publishing Co.
5. *Chikazumi, Sōshin (1997). Physics of Ferromagnetism.
Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-851776-4.
6. Iwata, Takao (1983). "A thermodynamical approach to the
irreversible magnetization in single-domain particles". Journal of
Magnetism and Magnetic Materials. 31–34: 1013–1014.
Bibcode:1983JMMM...31.1013I (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/ab
s/1983JMMM...31.1013I). doi:10.1016/0304-8853(83)90774-6 (htt
ps://doi.org/10.1016%2F0304-8853%2883%2990774-6).
7. Iwata, Takao (1986). "Irreversible magnetization in some
ferromagnetic insulators". Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic
Materials. 59 (3–4): 215–220. Bibcode:1986JMMM...59..215I (http
s://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1986JMMM...59..215I).
doi:10.1016/0304-8853(86)90415-4 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0
304-8853%2886%2990415-4).
8. Saslow, W. M. (2009). "Landau–Lifshitz or Gilbert damping? That
is the question". Journal of Applied Physics. 105 (7): 07D315.
Bibcode:2009JAP...105gD315S (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/ab
s/2009JAP...105gD315S). doi:10.1063/1.3077204 (https://doi.org/
10.1063%2F1.3077204).
9. For details of Kelly's non-resonant experiment, and of Gilbert's
analysis (which led to Gilbert's modifying the damping term), see
Gilbert, T. L. and Kelly, J. M. "Anomalous rotational damping in
ferromagnetic sheets", Conf. Magnetism and Magnetic Materials,
Pittsburgh, PA, June 14–16, 1955 (New York: American Institute
of Electrical Engineers, Oct. 1955, pp. 253–263 (http://people.phy
sics.tamu.edu/saslow/MMMConf55_253GilbertKelly.pdf)). Text
references to Figures 5 and 6 should have been to Tables 1 and
2. Gilbert could not fit Kelly's experiments with fixed usual
gyromagnetic ratio γ and a frequency-dependent λ=αγ, but could
fit that data for a fixed Gilbert gyromagnetic ratio γG=γ/(1+α2) and
a frequency-dependent α. Values of α as large as 9 were
required, indicating very broad absorption, and thus a relatively
low-quality sample. Modern samples, when analyzed from
resonance absorption, give α's on the order of 0.05 or less. J. R.
Mayfield, in J. Appl. Phys. Supplement to Vol. 30, 256S-257S
(1959), at the top left of p.257S, writes “As was first pointed out by
J. C. Slonczewski, the observed torque peak can be interpreted in
terms of rotational switching effects (abrupt reorientations of M)
which must occur when K/M ≤ H ≤ 2K/M.” Therefore the
interpretation given by Gilbert was not universally accepted.
10. J. Mallinson, "On damped gyromagnetic precession," in IEEE
Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 2003-2004, July
1987, doi: 10.1109/TMAG.1987.1065181. (https://ieeexplore.ieee.
org/document/1065181)
11. Slonczewski, John C. (1996). "Current-driven excitation of
magnetic multilayers". Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic
Materials. 159 (1): –1–L7. Bibcode:1996JMMM..159L...1S (https://
ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1996JMMM..159L...1S).
doi:10.1016/0304-8853(96)00062-5 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0
304-8853%2896%2900062-5).
12. Wolf, S. A. (16 November 2001). "Spintronics: A Spin-Based
Electronics Vision for the Future" (https://web.archive.org/web/20
170618114909/http://www.dtic.mil/get-tr-doc/pdf?AD=ADA51628
9). Science. 294 (5546): 1488–1495.
Bibcode:2001Sci...294.1488W (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/
2001Sci...294.1488W). doi:10.1126/science.1065389 (https://doi.
org/10.1126%2Fscience.1065389). PMID 11711666 (https://pub
med.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11711666). S2CID 14010432 (https://api.se
manticscholar.org/CorpusID:14010432). Archived from the
original (http://www.dtic.mil/get-tr-doc/pdf?AD=ADA516289) on
June 18, 2017.

Further reading
Gilbert, T.L. (1955). "A Lagrangian formulation of the gyromagnetic equation of the magnetic field". Physical Review. 100 (4): 1243.
Bibcode:1955PhRv..100.1235. (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1955PhRv..100.1235.). doi:10.1103/PhysRev.100.1235 (https://doi.org/
10.1103%2FPhysRev.100.1235). This is only an abstract; the full report is "Armor Research Foundation Project No. A059, Supplementary
Report, May 1, 1956", but was never published. A description of the work is given in Gilbert, T. L. (2004). "A phenomenological theory of
damping in ferromagnetic materials". IEEE Trans. Mag. 40 (6): 3443–3449. Bibcode:2004ITM....40.3443G (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/a
bs/2004ITM....40.3443G). doi:10.1109/TMAG.2004.836740 (https://doi.org/10.1109%2FTMAG.2004.836740). S2CID 35628797 (https://ap
i.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:35628797).
Landau, L.D.; Lifshitz, E.M. (1935). "Theory of the dispersion of magnetic permeability in ferromagnetic bodies". Phys. Z. Sowjetunion. 8,
153.
Skrotskiĭ, G V (1984). "The Landau–Lifshitz equation revisited". Sov. Phys. Usp. 27 (12): 977–979. Bibcode:1984SvPhU..27..977S (http
s://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1984SvPhU..27..977S). doi:10.1070/PU1984v027n12ABEH004101 (https://doi.org/10.1070%2FPU1984v0
27n12ABEH004101).
Guo, Boling; Ding, Shijin (2008). Landau–Lifshitz Equations. Frontiers of Research With the Chinese Academy of Sciences. World
Scientific Publishing Company. ISBN 978-981-277-875-8.
Cimrak, Ivan (2007). "A Survey on the Numerics and Computations for the Landau–Lifshitz Equation of Micromagnetism" (https://web.arch
ive.org/web/20150705114101/http://www.kst.fri.uniza.sk/~icimrak/publications/surveyLL.pdf) (PDF). Archives of Computational Methods
in Engineering. 15 (3): 1–37. doi:10.1007/BF03024947 (https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF03024947). S2CID 195272703 (https://api.semantic
scholar.org/CorpusID:195272703). Archived from the original (http://www.kst.fri.uniza.sk/~icimrak/publications/surveyLL.pdf) (PDF) on
2015-07-05. Retrieved 2012-05-30.
 M, Lakshmanan (2010). "The fascinating world of the Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert equation: an overview". Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. 369 (1939):
1280–1300. arXiv:1101.1005 (https://arxiv.org/abs/1101.1005). Bibcode:2011RSPTA.369.1280L (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011
RSPTA.369.1280L). doi:10.1098/rsta.2010.0319 (https://doi.org/10.1098%2Frsta.2010.0319). PMID 21320917 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.ni
h.gov/21320917). S2CID 23275414 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:23275414).

External links
Magnetization dynamics applet (https://web.archive.org/web/20080906171618/http://www.bama.ua.edu/~tmewes/Java/dynamics/Magneti
zationDynamics.shtml)

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