A ferromagnet can resonantly absorbs rf radiation to sustain a steady precession of the magnetization around an internal or applied magnetic field. We show that under these ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) conditions, a dc voltage is generated at a normal-metal electric contact to a ferromagnet with spin-flip scattering. This mechanism allows an easy electric detection of magnetization dyamics.
We demonstrate excitation of ferromagnetic resonance in CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) by the combined action of voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA) and spin transfer torque (ST). Our measurements reveal that GHz-frequency VCMA torque and ST in low-resistance MTJs have similar magnitudes, and thus that both torques are equally important for understanding high-frequency voltage-driven magnetization dynamics in MTJs. As an example, we show that VCMA can increase the sensitivity of an MTJ-based microwave signal detector to the sensitivity level of semiconductor Schottky diodes.
We describe electrical detection of spin pumping in metallic nanostructures. In the spin pumping effect, a precessing ferromagnet attached to a normal-metal acts as a pump of spin-polarized current, giving rise to a spin accumulation. The resulting spin accumulation induces a backflow of spin current into the ferromagnet and generates a dc voltage due to the spin dependent conductivities of the ferromagnet. The magnitude of such voltage is proportional to the spin-relaxation properties of the normal-metal. By using platinum as a contact material we observe, in agreement with theory, that the voltage is significantly reduced as compared to the case when aluminum was used. Furtheremore, the effects of rectification between the circulating rf currents and the magnetization precession of the ferromagnet are examined. Most significantly, we show that using an improved layout device geometry these effects can be minimized.
Precessing ferromagnets are predicted to inject a spin current into adjacent conductors via Ohmic contacts, irrespective of a conductance mismatch with, for example, doped semiconductors. This opens the way to create a pure spin source spin battery by the ferromagnetic resonance. We estimate the spin current and spin bias for different material combinations.
Experimental results of rectification of a constant wave radio frequency (RF) current flowing in a single-layered ferromagnetic wire are presented. We show that a detailed external magnetic field dependence of the RF current induced a direct-current voltage spectrum. The mechanism of the rectification is discussed in a term of the spin transfer torque, and the rectification is closely related to resonant spin wave excitation with the assistant of the spin-polarized RF current. The micromagnetic simulation taking into account the spin transfer torque provides strong evidence which supports the generation of spin wave excitation by the RF current.
The polarization of the spin current pumped by a precessing ferromagnet into an adjacent normal metal has a constant component parallel to the precession axis and a rotating one normal to the magnetization. The former component is now routinely detected in the form of a DC voltage induced by the inverse spin Hall effect (ISHE). Here we compute AC-ISHE voltages much larger than the DC signals for various material combinations and discuss optimal conditions to observe the effect. Including the backflow of spins is essential for distilling parameters such as the spin Hall angle from ISHE-detected spin pumping experiments.