Experimental evidence of spin-orbit torque from metallic interfaces

Abstract

Spin currents can modify the magnetic state of ferromagnetic ultrathin films through spin-orbit torque. They may be generated by means of spin-orbit interaction by either bulk or interfacial phenomena. Electrical transport measurements reveal a six-fold increase of the spin-orbit torque accompanied by a drastic reduction of the spin Hall magnetoresistance upon the introduction of a Cu interlayer in a Pt/Cu/Co/Pt structure with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. We analyze the dependence of the spin Hall magnetoresistance with the thickness of the interlayer in the frame of a drift diffusion model that provides information on the expected spin currents and spin accumulations in the system. The results demonstrate that the major responsible of both effects is spin memory loss at the interface. The enhancement of the spin-orbit torque when introducing an interlayer opens the possibility to design more effient spintronic devices based on materials that are cheap and abundant such as copper.

arXiv comment12 pages, 5 figures

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Towards Non-Volatile Spin Orbit Devices: Deposition of Ferroelectric Hafnia on Monolayer Graphene/Co/HM Stacks
• Spin-to-charge conversion by spin pumping in sputtered polycrystalline Bi${}_x$Se${}_{1-x}$
• Thermal spin current generation in the multifunctional ferrimagnet Ga${}_{0.6}$Fe${}_{1.4}$O${}_3$
• Spin current transport in hybrid Pt / multifunctional magnetoelectric Ga0.6Fe1.4O3 bilayers
• Optimizing nucleation layers for the integration of ferroelectric HZO on CVD-grown graphene