Giant tunable spin Hall angle in sputtered Bi2Se3 controlled by an electric field

Abstract

Finding an effective way to greatly tune spin Hall angle in a low power manner is of fundamental importance for tunable and energy-efficient spintronic devices. Recently, topological insulator of Bi2Se3, having a large intrinsic spin Hall angle, show great capability to generate strong current-induced spin-orbit torques. Here we demonstrate that the spin Hall angle in Bi2Se3 can be effectively tuned asymmetrically and even enhanced about 600% reversibly by applying a bipolar electric field across the piezoelectric substrate. We reveal that the enhancement of spin Hall angle originates from both the charge doping and piezoelectric strain effet on the spin Berry curvature near Fermi level in Bi2Se3. Our findings provide a platform for achieving low power consumption and tunable spintronic devices.