Tuning spin-orbit torques across the phase transition in VO2/NiFe heterostructure

Autor: Jun‐young Kim, Joel Cramer, Kyujoon Lee, Dong‐Soo Han, Dongwook Go, Pavel Salev, Pavel N. Lapa, Nicolas M. Vargas, Ivan K. Schuller, Yuriy Mokrousov, Gerhard Jakob, Mathias Kläui
Přispěvatelé: Mainz, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Advanced functional materials 32(17), 2111555 (2022). doi:10.1002/adfm.202111555
Advanced Functional Materials
DOI: 10.25358/openscience-7331
Popis: The emergence of spin-orbit torques as a promising approach to energy-efficient magnetic switching has generated large interest in material systems with easily and fully tunable spin-orbit torques. Here, current-induced spin-orbit torques in VO$_2$/NiFe heterostructures were investigated using spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance, where the VO$_2$ layer undergoes a prominent insulator-metal transition. A roughly two-fold increase in the Gilbert damping parameter, $\alpha$, with temperature was attributed to the change in the VO$_2$/NiFe interface spin absorption across the VO$_2$ phase transition. More remarkably, a large modulation ($\pm$100%) and a sign change of the current-induced spin-orbit torque across the VO$_2$ phase transition suggest two competing spin-orbit torque generating mechanisms. The bulk spin Hall effect in metallic VO$_2$, corroborated by our first-principles calculation of spin Hall conductivity, $\sigma_{SH} \approx 10^4 \frac{\hbar}{e} \Omega^{-1} m^{-1}$, is verified as the main source of the spin-orbit torque in the metallic phase. The self-induced/anomalous torque in NiFe, of the opposite sign and a similar magnitude to the bulk spin Hall effect in metallic VO$_2$, could be the other competing mechanism that dominates as temperature decreases. For applications, the strong tunability of the torque strength and direction opens a new route to tailor spin-orbit torques of materials which undergo phase transitions for new device functionalities.
Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures
Databáze: OpenAIRE