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.

12 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (9)

• Theory of spin Hall magnetoresistance
• Spin-orbit torques in heavy metal/ferromagnet bilayers with varying strength of interfacial spin-orbit coupling
• Deterministic magnetization switching using lateral spin-orbit torque
• Spin-memory loss due to spin-orbit coupling at ferromagnet/heavy-metal interfaces: Ab initio spin-density matrix approach
• Enhancing spin-orbit torque by strong interfacial scattering from ultra-thin insertion layers
• Contribution of defects to the spin relaxation in copper nanowires
• Intrinsic magnetoresistance in metal films on ferromagnetic insulators
• Effects of transition-metal spacers on the spin-orbit torques, spin Hall magnetoresistance, and magnetic anisotropy of Pt/Co bilayers
• Observation of spin-orbit magnetoresistance in metallic thin films on magnetic insulators

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