Observation of Orbit-Orbit Torques: Highly Efficient Torques on Orbital Moments Induced by Orbital Currents
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University（北京航空航天大学材料科学与工程学院）；State Key Laboratory of Tropic Ocean Engineering Materials and Materials Evaluation, Beihang University（北京航空航天大学热带海洋工程材料与材料评估国家重点实验室）
Hongyu Chen, Han Yan, Xiaorong Zhou, Xiaoning Wang, Ziang Meng, Li Liu, Guojian Zhao, Zhiyuan Duan, Sixu Jiang, Jingyu Li, Xiaoyang Tan, Peixin Qin, Zhiqi Liu
备注：
15 pages, 5 figures, published online at Modern Physics Letters B
We study the current-induced torques in bilayers composed of a light 3d metal, chromium, and a rare-earth ferromagnet with finite orbital moments, terbium, utilizing second-harmonic Hall-response measurements. The dampinglike torque efficiency of chromium is found to be positive and reaches ~3.66 in this system, in sharp contrast to the negative and subtle dampinglike torque efficiency in general Cr/ferromagnet heterostructures with quenched orbital moment. We suggest that the orbital currents generated by the orbital Hall effect in Cr can be injected into Tb with negligible loss at the interface and then efficiently interact with the orbital moments. We term such an exotic effect as the orbit-orbit torque (OOT). Our work implies that orbital currents could be harnessed to manipulate the orbital magnetization of materials, which would advance the development of orbitronics.
Spin Hall effect, an electric generation of spin current, allows for efficient control of magnetization. Recent theory revealed that orbital Hall effect creates orbital current, which can be much larger than spin Hall-induced spin current. However, orbital current cannot directly exert a torque on a ferromagnet, requiring a conversion process from orbital current to spin current. Here, we report two effective methods of the conversion through spin-orbit coupling engineering, which allows us to unambiguously demonstrate orbital-current-induced spin torque, or orbital Hall torque. We find that o…
Low crystal symmetry of magnetic van der Waals materials naturally promotes spin-orbital complexity unachievable in common magnetic materials used for spin-orbit torque switching. Here, using first-principles methods, we demonstrate that an interplay of spin and orbital degrees of freedom has a profound impact on spin-orbit torques in a prototype van der Waals ferromagnet: Fe$_3$GeTe$_2$ (FGT). While we show that bulk FGT hosts strong "hidden" current-induced torques harvested by each of its layers, we uncover that their origin alternates between the conventional spin flux torque and the so-ca…
The electrical manipulation of magnetization by current-induced spin torques has given access to realize a plethora of ultralow power and fast spintronic devices such as non-volatile magnetic memories, spin-torque nano-oscillators, and neuromorphic computing devices. Recent advances have led to the notion that relativistic spin-orbit coupling is an efficient source for current-induced torques, opening the field of spin-orbitronics. Despite the significant progress, however, the fundamental mechanism of magnetization manipulation, the requirement of spin currents in generating current-induced t…
We propose a mechanism of torque generation by injection of an orbital current, which we call $\textit{orbital torque}$. In a magnetic bilayer consisting of a nonmagnet (NM) and a ferromagnet (FM), we consider a situation where the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is present only in the FM. Although the SOC is absent in the NM, the orbital Hall effect can arise in the NM. When the resulting orbital Hall current is injected to the FM, the SOC of the FM converts the orbital angular momentum into spin, which exerts torque to the magnetization of the FM. Remarkably, even for small SOC strength comparable…
Dominant spin Hall torque and negligible orbital Hall torque in α-W/ferromagnet heterostructures with artifacts-free angular momentum detectors
State Key Laboratory of Semiconductor Physics and Chip Technologies, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院半导体研究所半导体物理与芯片技术国家重点实验室）；Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学材料科学与光电工程技术研究中心）；College of Physics and Information Technology, Shaanxi Normal University（陕西师范大学物理学与信息技术学院）
Modern spintronics relies on the generation of spin currents through spin-orbit coupling. The spin-current generation has been believed to be triggered by current-induced orbital dynamics, which governs the angular momentum transfer from the lattice to the electrons in solids. The fundamental role of the orbital response in the angular momentum dynamics suggests the importance of the orbital counterpart of spin currents: orbital currents. However, evidence for its existence has been elusive. Here, we demonstrate the generation of giant orbital currents and uncover fundamental features of the o…
Motivated by the importance of understanding competing mechanisms to current-induced spin-orbit torque in complex magnets, we develop a unified theory of current-induced spin-orbital coupled dynamics. The theory describes angular momentum transfer between different degrees of freedom in solids, e.g., the electron orbital and spin, the crystal lattice, and the magnetic order parameter. Based on the continuity equations for the spin and orbital angular momenta, we derive equations of motion that relate spin and orbital current fluxes and torques describing the transfer of angular momentum betwee…
Harnessing Native Chromium Oxidation for Giant Orbital Torque and Field-Free Magnetization Switching in NiFe/Cr Bilayers
Indian Institute of Technology Ropar（印度理工学院罗帕尔分校）；Indian Institute of Technology Mandi（印度理工学院曼迪分校）；Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar（印度理工学院布巴内斯瓦尔分校）；Virginia Commonwealth University（弗吉尼亚联邦大学）；Jaypee Institute of Information Technology（贾伊皮信息技术学院）
While current-induced torque by orbital current has been experimentally found in various structures, evidence for its reciprocity has been missing so far. Here, we report experimental evidence of strong inverse orbital torque in YIG/Pt/CuOx (YIG = Y3Fe5O12) mediated by spin-orbital entangled electronic states in Pt. By injecting spin current from YIG to Pt by the spin pumping via ferromagnetic resonance and by the spin Seebeck effect, we find a pronounced inverse spin Hall effect-like signal. While a part of the signal is explained as due to the inverse spin-orbital Hall effect in Pt, we also …
Interfacial orbital transmission, conversion, and mechanical torque in metals
Aix-Marseille Université（艾克斯-马赛大学）；Korea University（高丽大学）；Forschungszentrum Jülich（于利希研究中心）；Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz（约翰内斯·古腾堡美因茨大学）；Norwegian University of Science and Technology（挪威科技大学）
Spin-orbit torques due to interfacial Rashba and spin Hall effects have been widely considered as a potentially more efficient approach than the conventional spin-transfer torque to control the magnetization of ferromagnets. We report a comprehensive study of spin-orbit torque efficiency in Ta(O)/Ni81Fe19 bilayers by tuning low-oxidation of \b{eta}-phase tantalum, and find that the spin Hall angle θDL increases from ~ -0.18 of the pure Ta/Py to the maximum value ~ -0.30 of Ta(O)/Py with 7.8% oxidation. Furthermore, we distinguish the efficiency of the spin-orbit torque generated by the bulk sp…
High-performance orbital-torque magnetic memory on the 300-mm platform
Zhejiang Hikstor Technology Co. LTD.（浙江海克存储科技有限公司）；Institute of Quantum Materials and Devices（天津工业大学电子与信息工程学院量子材料与器件研究所）；School of Electronic and Information Engineering, Tiangong University（清华大学物理系低维量子物理国家重点实验室）；State Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics and Department of Physics, Tsinghua University（浙江大学物理学院量子物质中心）；Center for Quantum Matter, School of Physics, Zhejiang University
Spin-Orbital Hall Nano-Oscillators using PtCr/NiFe
University of Gothenburg（哥德堡大学）；Tohoku University（东北大学）；Uppsala University（乌普萨拉大学）；Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology（越南科学技术院）；Chalmers University of Technology（查尔姆斯理工大学）
While it is often assumed that the orbital response is suppressed and short-ranged due to strong crystal field potential and orbital quenching, we show that the orbital magnetoelectric response can be remarkably long-ranged in ferromagnets. In a bilayer consisting of a nonmagnet and a ferromagnet, spin injection from the interface results in spin accumulation and torque in the ferromagnet, which rapidly oscillate and decay by spin dephasing. In contrast, we find that even when an external electric field is applied only on the nonmagnet, we find substantially long-ranged orbital magnetoelectric…
We present an {\it ab initio}-based theoretical framework which elucidates the origin of the spin-orbit torque (SOT) in Normal-Metal(NM)/Ferromagnet(FM) heterostructures. The SOT is decomposed into two contributions, namely, {\it spin-Hall} and the {\it spin-orbital} components. We find that {\it (i)} the Field-Like (FL) SOT is dominated by the spin-orbital component and {\it (ii)} both components contribute to the damping-like torque with comparable magnitude in the limit of thick Pt film. The contribution of the spin-orbital component to the DL-SOT is present only for NMs with strong SOC cou…
Absence of Orbital Hall Magnetoresistance in Nonmagnet/Ferromagnet Bilayers with Large Orbital Torque
State Key Laboratory of Semiconductor Physics and Chip Technologies, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院半导体研究所）；College of Materials Science and Opto-Electronic Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学材料科学与光电技术学院）；Fert Beijing Institute, MIIT Key Laboratory of Spintronics, School of Integrated Circuit Science and Engineering, Beihang University（北京航空航天大学集成电路科学与工程学院）；National Key Laboratory of Spintronics Hangzhou International Innovation Institute Beihang University（北京航空航天大学杭州创新研究院）；Southwest Institute of Technical Physics（西南技术物理研究所）
Negligible current-induced torque from the bulk and interface of Al
Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院半导体研究所）；University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学）；Shaanxi Normal University（陕西师范大学）
The orbital Hall effect provides an alternative means to the spin Hall effect to convert a charge current into a flow of angular momentum. Recently, compelling signatures of orbital Hall effects have been identified in 3d transition metals. Here, we report a systematic study of the generation, transmission, and conversion of orbital currents in heterostructures comprising 3d, 5d, and 4f metals. We show that the orbital Hall conductivity of Cr reaches giant values of the order of 5*10^5 Ohm^{-1} m^{-1} and that Pt presents a strong orbital Hall effect in addition to the spin Hall effect. Measur…
We proposed a novel and simple multilayer structure to realize the deterministic switching of perpendicularly magnetized layers (Co in our work) by spin orbital torque from the spin Hall Effect in this paper. A pinned layer is introduced, antiferromagnetically coupled to the magnetic Co layer. We have confirmed the deterministic switching of perpendicularly magnetized layers from perspectives of switching loops, trajectories and switching properties under periodic spin currents through micromagnetic simulation. The antiferromagnetic interaction accounts for the deterministic switching exhibite…
The reversal of perpendicular magnetization (PM) by electric control is crucial for high-density integration of low-power magnetic random-access memory (MRAM). Although the spin-transfer torque (STT) and spin-orbit torque (SOT) technologies have been used to switch the magnetization of a free layer with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, the former has limited endurance because of the high current density directly through the junction, while the latter requires an external magnetic field or unconventional configuration to break the symmetry. Here we propose and realize the orbit-transfer torqu…
We theoretically study the current-induced dynamics of a domain wall in a ferromagnetic nanotube by developing a theory for the orbital angular momentum of a domain wall and the current-induced torque on it. Specifically, a domain wall with nontrivial magnetization winding along the circumference is shown to possess finite orbital angular momentum, which is proportional to the product of its Skyrmion charge and position, and the current is shown to exert a torque changing the orbital angular momentum of the domain wall and thereby drives it. The current-induced torque is interpreted as the tra…
Evidence of orbital Hall current induced correlation in second harmonic response of longitudinal and transverse voltage in light metal-ferromagnet bilayers
One of the main obstacles that prevents practical applications of antiferromagnets is the difficulty of manipulating the magnetic order parameter. Recently, following the theoretical prediction [J. Železný et al., PRL 113, 157201 (2014)], the electrical switching of magnetic moments in an antiferromagnet has been demonstrated [P. Wadley et al., Science 351, 587 (2016)]. The switching is due to the so-called spin-orbit torque, which has been extensively studied in ferromagnets. In this phenomena a non-equilibrium spin-polarization exchange coupled to the ordered local moments is induced by curr…
We propose a spin-mechanical device to control and detect spin currents by mechanical torque. Our hybrid nano-electro-mechanical device, which contains a nanowire with a ferromagnetic-nonmagnetic interface, is designed to measure or induce spin polarized currents. Since spin carries angular momentum, a spin flip or spin transfer process involves a change in angular momentum--and hence, a torque--which enables mechanical measurement of spin flips. Conversely, an applied torque can result in spin polarization and spin current.
We introduce the general formalism to describe spin torques induced by the supercurrents injected from the adjacent superconducting electrodes into the spin-textured ferromagnets. By considering the adiabatic limit for the equal-spin superconducting correlations in the ferromagnet we show that the supercurrent can generate both the field-like spin transfer torque and the spin-orbital torque. These dissipationless spin torques are expressed through the current-induced corrections to the effective field derived from the system energy. The general formalism is applied to show that the supercurren…
Stimulated generally by recent interest in the novel spin Hall effect, the nonrelativistic quantum mechanical conserved currents, taken into account of spin-orbit coupling, are rigorously formulated based on the symmetries of system and Noether' theorem. The quantum mechanical force on the spin as well as the torque associated with the variance of angular momentum are obtained. Consequently, the kinetic interpretation of the variances of spin and orbit angular momentum currents implies a torque on the "electric dipole" associated with the moving spin. The bearing of the force and the torque on…
The Berry phase on the Fermi surface and its influence on the conserved spin current in a two-dimensional system with generic $k$-linear spin-orbit interaction are investigated. We calculate the response of the effective conserved spin current to the applied electric field, which is composed of conventional and spin torque currents, by using the Kubo formula. We find that the conventional spin current is not determined by the Berry phase effect. Remarkably, the spin torque Hall current is found to be proportional to the Berry phase, and the longitudinal spin torque current vanishes because of …
