An AC electric field applied to a junction comprising two spin-orbit coupled weak links connecting a quantum dot to two electronic terminals is proposed to induce a DC current and to generate a voltage drop over the junction if it is a part of an open circuit. This photovoltaic effect requires a junction in which mirror reflection-symmetry is broken. Its origin lies in the different fashion inelastic processes modify the reflection of electrons from the junction back into the two terminals, which leads to uncompensated DC transport. The effect can be detected by measuring the voltage drop that is built up due to that DC current. This voltage is an even function of the frequency of the AC electric field and is {em not} related to quantum pumping.
Efficient generation of spin-orbit torques (SOTs) is central for the exciting field of spin-orbitronics. Platinum, the archetypal spin Hall material, has the potential to be an outstanding provider for spin-orbit torques due to its giant spin Hall conductivity, low resistivity, high stabilities, and the ability to be compatible with CMOS circuits. However, pure clean-limit Pt with low resistivity still provides a low damping-like spin-orbit torque efficiency, which limits its practical applications. The efficiency of spin-orbit torque in Pt-based magnetic heterostructures can be improved considerably by increasing the spin Hall ratio of Pt and spin transmissivity of the interfaces. Here we reviews recent advances in understanding the physics of spin current generation, interfacial spin transport, and the metrology of spin-orbit torques, and summarize progress towards the goal of Pt-based spin-orbit torque memories and logic that are fast, efficient, reliable, scalable, and non-volatile.
We study current-induced torques in WTe2/permalloy bilayers as a function of WTe2 thickness. We measure the torques using both second-harmonic Hall and spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance measurements for samples with WTe2 thicknesses that span from 16 nm down to a single monolayer. We confirm the existence of an out-of-plane antidamping torque, and show directly that the sign of this torque component is reversed across a monolayer step in the WTe2. The magnitude of the out-of-plane antidamping torque depends only weakly on WTe2 thickness, such that even a single-monolayer WTe2 device provides a strong torque that is comparable to much thicker samples. In contrast, the out-of-plane field-like torque has a significant dependence on the WTe2 thickness. We demonstrate that this field-like component originates predominantly from the Oersted field, thereby correcting a previous inference drawn by our group based on a more limited set of samples.
We propose and study a spin-orbit interaction based mechanism to actively cool down the torsional vibration of a nanomechanical resonator made by semiconductor materials. We show that the spin-orbit interactions of electrons can induce a coherent coupling between the electron spins and the torsional modes of nanomechanical vibration. This coherent coupling leads to an active cooling for the torsional modes via the dynamical thermalization of the resonator and the spin ensemble.
While tremendous work has gone into spin-orbit torque and spin current generation, charge-to-spin conversion efficiency remains weak in silicon to date, generally stemming from the low spin-orbit coupling (low atomic number, Z) and lack of bulk lattice inversion symmetry breaking. Here we report the observation of spin-orbit torque in an amorphous, non-ferromagnetic Fe$_{x}$Si$_{1-x}$ / cobalt bilayer at room temperature, using spin torque ferromagnetic resonance and harmonic Hall measurements. Both techniques provide a minimum spin torque efficiency of about 3 %, comparable to prototypical heavy metals such as Pt or Ta. According to the conventional theory of the spin Hall effect, a spin current in an amorphous material is not expected to have any substantial contribution from the electronic bandstructure. This, combined with the fact that Fe$_{x}$Si$_{1-x}$ does not contain any high-Z element, paves a new avenue for understanding the underlying physics of spin-orbit interaction and opens up a new class of material systems - silicides - that is directly compatible with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) processes for integrated spintronics applications.
We present measurements of spin orbit torques generated by Ir as a function of film thickness in sputtered Ir/CoFeB and Ir/Co samples. We find that Ir provides a damping-like component of spin orbit torque with a maximum spin torque conductivity 1.4e5 in SI unit and a maximum spin-torque efficiency of 0.04, which is sufficient to drive switching in an 0.8 nm film of CoFeB with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. We also observe a surprisingly large field like spin orbit torque. Measurements as a function of Ir thickness indicate a substantial contribution to the FLT from an interface mechanism so that in the ultrathin limit there is a non-zero FLT with a maximum torque conductivity -5.0E4 in the SI unit. When the Ir film thickness becomes comparable to or greater than its spin diffusion length, 1.6 nm, there is also a smaller bulk contribution to the fieldlike torque.