Relaxation of Bloch oscillations of a magnetic soliton in a nonuniform magnetic field

The influence of damping on the Bloch oscillations arising in the motion of a magnetic soliton in an easy-axis one-dimensional ferromagnet in the pres ence of a small magnetic field gradient is investigated. The most interesti ng case, that of solitons with low frequencies and low velocities, is consi dered. In this case there are two soliton damping regimes. When the magneti c field gradient is greater than a critical value set by the damping, the s oliton lifetime is considerably greater than the period of the Bloch oscill ations. However, together with these oscillations there arises a translatio nal motion of the soliton due to dissipation. If the magnetic field gradien t is smaller than the critical value, then the Bloch oscillations vanish, a nd the soliton undergoes only translational motion. (C) 2001 American Insti tute of Physics.