Strong spin-orbit fields and Dyakonov-Perel spin dephasing in supported metallic films

Abstract

Spin dephasing by the Dyakonov-Perel mechanism in metallic films deposited on insulating substrates is revealed, and quantitatively examined by means of density functional calculations combined with a kinetic equation. The surface-to-substrate asymmetry, probed by the metal wave functions in thin films, is found to produce strong spin-orbit fields and a fast Larmor precession, giving a dominant contribution to spin decay over the Elliott-Yafet spin relaxation up to a thickness of 70 nm. The spin dephasing is oscillatory in time with a rapid (sub-picosecond) initial decay. However, parts of the Fermi surface act as spin traps, causing a persistent tail signal lasting 1000 times longer than the initial decay time. It is also found that the decay depends on the direction of the initial spin polarization, resulting in a spin-dephasing anisotropy of 200% in the examined cases.

References in corpus (8)

• Direct electronic measurement of the spin Hall effect
• Electrons and holes in phosphorene
• Rashba type spin-orbit splitting of quantum well states in ultrathin Pb films
• Spin Nernst effect and Nernst effect in two-dimensional electron systems
• Spin-Scattering Rates in Metallic Thin Films Measured by Ferromagnetic Resonance Damping Enhanced by Spin-Pumping
• Spin-orbit coupling and spin relaxation in phosphorene: Intrinsic versus extrinsic effects
• Spin relaxation and spin Hall transport in 5d transition-metal ultrathin films
• Fermi surfaces, spin-mixing parameter, and colossal anisotropy of spin relaxation in transition metals from ab initio theory

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Damping-like Torque in Monolayer 1T-TaS${}_2$
• Interfacial contributions to spin-orbit torque and magnetoresistance in ferromagnet/heavy-metal bilayers
• Charge-Spin Interconversion in Epitaxial Pt Probed by Spin-Orbit Torques in a Magnetic Insulator
• Anisotropic Spin Relaxation Induced by Surface Spin-Orbit Effects
• Spin diffusion length associated to out-of-plane resistivity of Pt thin films in spin pumping experiments
• Impact of the crystal orientation on spin-orbit torques in Fe/Pd bilayers