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Register a new userSpin-memory loss induced by bulk spin-orbit coupling at ferromagnet/heavy-metal interfaces
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A spin current through a ferromagnet/heavy-metal interface may shrink due to the spin-flip at the interface, resulting in the spin-memory loss. Here we propose a mechanism of the spin-memory loss. In contrast to other mechanisms based on interfacial spin-orbit coupling, our mechanism is based on the bulk spin-orbit coupling in a heavy-metal. We demonstrate that the bulk spin-orbit coupling induces the entanglement between the spin and orbital degrees of freedom and this spin-orbital entanglement can give rise to sizable spin-flip at the interface even when the interfacial spin-orbit coupling is weak. Our mechanism emphasizes crucial roles of the atomic orbital degree of freedom and induces the strong spin-memory loss near band crossing points between bands of different orbital characters.
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Spin-memory loss (SML) of electrons traversing ferromagnetic-metal/heavy-metal (FM/HM), FM/normal-metal (FM/NM) and HM/NM interfaces is a fundamental phenomenon that must be invoked to explain consistently large number of spintronic experiments. However, its strength extracted by fitting experimental data to phenomenological semiclassical theory, which replaces each interface by a fictitious bulk diffusive layer, is poorly understood from a microscopic quantum framework and/or materials properties. Here we describe an ensemble of flowing spin quantum states using spin-density matrix, so that SML is measured like any decoherence process by the decay of its off-diagonal elements or, equivalently, by the reduction of the magnitude of polarization vector. By combining this framework with density functional theory (DFT), we examine how all three components of the polarization vector change at Co/Ta, Co/Pt, Co/Cu, Pt/Cu and Pt/Au interfaces embedded within Cu/FM/HM/Cu vertical heterostructures. In addition, we use ab initio Greens functions to compute spectral functions and spin textures over FM, HM and NM monolayers around these interfaces which quantify interfacial spin-orbit coupling and explain the microscopic origin of SML in long-standing puzzles, such as why it is nonzero at Co/Cu interface; why it is very large at Pt/Cu interface; and why it occurs even in the absence of disorder, intermixing and magnons at the interface.
Spin-orbit coupling (SOC) describes the relativistic interaction between the spin and momentum degrees of freedom of electrons, and is central to the rich phenomena observed in condensed matter systems. In recent years, new phases of matter have emerged from the interplay between SOC and low dimensionality, such as chiral spin textures and spin-polarized surface and interface states. These low-dimensional SOC-based realizations are typically robust and can be exploited at room temperature. Here we discuss SOC as a means of producing such fundamentally new physical phenomena in thin films and heterostructures. We put into context the technological promise of these material classes for developing spin-based device applications at room temperature.
The spin mixing conductance (SMC) is a key quantity determining efficiency of spin transport across interfaces. Thus, knowledge of its precise value is required for accurate measurement of parameters quantifying numerous effects in spintronics, such as spin-orbit torque, spin Hall magnetoresistance, spin Hall effect and spin pumping. However, the standard expression for SMC, provided by the scattering theory in terms of the reflection probability amplitudes, is inapplicable when strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is present directly at the interface. This is the precisely the case of topological-insulator/ferromagnet and heavy-metal/ferromagnet interfaces of great contemporary interest. We introduce an approach where first-principles Hamiltonian of these interfaces, obtained from noncollinear density functional theory (ncDFT) calculations, is combined with charge conserving Floquet-nonequilibrium-Green-function formalism to compute {em directly} the pumped spin current $I^{S_z}$ into semi-infinite left lead of two-terminal heterostructures Cu/X/Co/Cu or Y/Co/Cu---where X=Bi$_2$Se$_3$ and Y=Pt or W---due to microwave-driven steadily precessing magnetization of the Co layer. This allows us extract an effective SMC as a prefactor in $I^{S_z}$ vs. precession cone angle $theta$ dependence, as long as it remains the same, $I^{S_z} propto sin^2 theta$, as in the case where SOC is absent. By comparing calculations where SOC in switched off vs. switched on in ncDFT calculations, we find that SOC consistently reduces the pumped spin current and, therefore, the effective SMC.
The electric-field tunable Rashba spin-orbit coupling at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface shows potential applications in spintronic devices. However, different gate dependence of the coupling strength has been reported in experiments. On the theoretical side, it has been predicted that the largest Rashba effect appears at the crossing point of the $d_{xy}$ and $d_{xz,yz}$ bands. In this work, we study the tuneability of the Rashba effect in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 by means of back-gating. The Lifshitz transition was crossed multiple times by tuning the gate voltage so that the Fermi energy is tuned to approach or depart from the band crossing. By analyzing the weak antilocalization behavior in the magnetoresistance, we find that the maximum spin-orbit coupling effect occurs when the Fermi energy is near the Lifshitz point. Moreover, we find strong evidence for a single spin winding at the Fermi surface.
The existence of a spin-orbit coupling (SOC) induced by the gradient of the effective mass in low-dimensional heterostructures is revealed. In structurally asymmetric quasi-two-dimensional semiconductor heterostructures the presence of a mass gradient across the interfaces results in a SOC which competes with the SOC created by the electric field in the valence band. However, in graded quantum wells subjected to an external electric field, the mass-gradient induced SOC can be finite even when the electric field in the valence band vanishes.
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