Enhanced Spin-Orbit Coupling in Heavy Metals via Molecular Coupling
| Autor: | Quentin M. Ramasse, Satam Alotibi, David D. O'Regan, Chiara Ciccarelli, Gavin Burnell, Mannan Ali, Gilberto Teobaldi, Joseph Barker, Mohammed Alyami, Oscar Cespedes, J. Patchett, B. J. Hickey, Emiliano Poli, Timothy Moorsom |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Coupling
Materials science Magnetic moment Magnetoresistance Condensed matter physics 02 engineering and technology Electron Electronic structure Spin–orbit interaction 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology 01 natural sciences Condensed Matter::Materials Science 0103 physical sciences Physics::Atomic and Molecular Clusters General Materials Science Density functional theory Condensed Matter::Strongly Correlated Electrons 010306 general physics 0210 nano-technology Spin (physics) |
| Zdroj: | ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES |
| ISSN: | 1944-8252 1944-8244 |
| Popis: | 5d metals are used in electronics because of their high spin-orbit coupling (SOC) leading to efficient spin-electric conversion. When C60 is grown on a metal, the electronic structure is altered due to hybridization and charge transfer. In this work, we measure the spin Hall magnetoresistance for Pt/C60 and Ta/C60, finding that they are up to a factor of 6 higher than those for pristine metals, indicating a 20-60% increase in the spin Hall angle. At low fields of 1-30 mT, the presence of C60 increased the anisotropic magnetoresistance by up to 700%. Our measurements are supported by noncollinear density functional theory calculations, which predict a significant SOC enhancement by C60 that penetrates through the Pt layer, concomitant with trends in the magnetic moment of transport electrons acquired via SOC and symmetry breaking. The charge transfer and hybridization between the metal and C60 can be controlled by gating, so our results indicate the possibility of dynamically modifying the SOC of thin metals using molecular layers. This could be exploited in spin-transfer torque memories and pure spin current circuits. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|