Abstract
The magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) is an important spintronic device and widely used in storage and sensor applications due to its large tunnel magnetoresistance. Here, we demonstrate that MTJs with an MgO barrier can be used in a straightforward way for accurate and quantitative temperature measurements in buried nanostructures. For this purpose, three intrinsic properties of the MTJ are employed: (i) the temperature dependence of the tunnel resistance, (ii) the temperature dependence of the coercivity of the free layer, and (iii) the temperature dependence of the coercivity of the synthetic antiferromagnet. We compare the three methods for the case in which a metal layer above the MTJ is heated by femtosecond laser pulses and find a good agreement between the different techniques. Our results might contribute to a better understanding of nanoscale thermal transport in multilayer structures for which corresponding simulations are very complicated. Additionally, the developed techniques, which have a high spatial resolution, will be suitable for the study of new physical phenomena where quantitative information about temperature and temperature gradients is required.
Published Version
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