Large Spin Current Research Articles

Theory of magnon motive force in chiral ferromagnets

We predict that magnon motive force can lead to temperature dependent, nonlinear chiral damping in both conducting and insulating ferromagnets. We estimate that this damping can significantly influence the motion of skyrmions and domain walls at finite temperatures. We also find that in systems with low Gilbert damping moving chiral magnetic textures and resulting magnon motive forces can induce large spin and energy currents in the transverse direction.

Direct optical detection of current induced spin accumulation in metals by magnetization-induced second harmonic generation

Strong spin-orbit coupling in non-magnetic heavy metals has been shown to lead to large spin currents flowing transverse to a charge current in such a metal wire. This in turn leads to the buildup of a net spin accumulation at the lateral surfaces of the wire. Spin-orbit torque effects enable the use of the accumulated spins to exert useful magnetic torques on adjacent magnetic layers in spintronic devices. We report the direct detection of spin accumulation at the free surface of nonmagnetic metal films using magnetization-induced optical surface second harmonic generation. The technique is applied to probe the current induced surface spin accumulation in various heavy metals such as Pt, β-Ta, and Au with high sensitivity. The sensitivity of the technique enables us to measure the time dynamics on a sub-ns time scale of the spin accumulation arising from a short current pulse. The ability of optical surface second harmonic generation to probe interfaces suggests that this technique will also be useful for studying the dynamics of spin accumulation and transport across interfaces between non-magnetic and ferromagnetic materials, where spin-orbit torque effects are of considerable interest.

Spin transport in non-inertial frame

The influence of acceleration and rotation on spintronic applications is theoretically investigated. In our formulation, considering a Dirac particle in a non-inertial frame, different spin related aspects are studied. The spin current appearing due to the inertial spin–orbit coupling (SOC) is enhanced by the interband mixing of the conduction and valence band states. Importantly, one can achieve a large spin current through the k→.p→ method in this non-inertial frame. Furthermore, apart from the inertial SOC term due to acceleration, for a particular choice of the rotation frequency, a new kind of SOC term can be obtained from the spin rotation coupling (SRC). This new kind of SOC is of Dresselhaus type and controllable through the rotation frequency. In the field of spintronic applications, utilizing the inertial SOC and SRC induced SOC term, theoretical proposals for the inertial spin filter, inertial spin galvanic effect are demonstrated. Finally, one can tune the spin relaxation time in semiconductors by tuning the non-inertial parameters.

Swing switching of spin-torque valves

We propose a method for inducing magnetization reversal using an AC spin current polarized perpendicular to the equilibrium magnetization of the free magnetic layer. We show that the critical AC spin current is significantly smaller than the corresponding DC one. The effect is understood as a consequence of the underdamped nature of the spin-torque oscillators. It allows to use the kinetic inertia to overcome the residual energy barrier, rather than suppressing the latter by a large spin current. The effect is similar to a swing which may be set into high amplitude motion by a weak near-resonant push. The optimal AC frequency is identified as the upper bifurcation frequency of the corresponding driven nonlinear oscillator. Together with fast switching times it makes the perpendicular AC method to be the most efficient way to realize spin-torque memory valve.

Generation of large spin currents in graphene using adiabatic quantum pumping

We study adiabatic quantum pumping of Dirac fermions in a monolayer graphene in the large pumping amplitude regime in order to study how to generate a large spin polarized current. Spin current is generated by applying two periodic oscillating gate voltages to a monolayer graphene with exchange splitting induced by ferromagnetic proximity. We find that pumped charge and spin currents are sensitive functions of the Fermi energy and pure spin current and spin current with different degrees of polarization and large magnitudes are obtained in our scheme. We also study the effects of parameters of the system, such as the barrier separation and the exchange splitting, on the pumped currents. The spin current generated by this method can be as high as 80-100 nA. This shows the method can be used in the study of spin physics in graphene and the realization of graphene spintronic devices.

Room-temperature generation of giant pure spin currents using epitaxial Co2FeSi spin injectors

The generation, manipulation and detection of a pure spin current (i.e., the flow of spin angular momentum without a charge current) are prospective approaches for realizing next-generation spintronic devices with ultra-low electric power consumption. Conventional ferromagnetic electrodes such as Co and NiFe have been utilized as spin injectors to generate pure spin currents in nonmagnetic channels. However, the generation efficiency of pure spin currents is extremely low at room temperature, giving rise to a serious obstacle for device applications. Here we demonstrate the generation of giant pure spin currents at room temperature in lateral spin valve devices with a highly ordered Heusler-compound Co2FeSi (CFS) spin injector. The generation efficiency of pure spin currents from the CFS spin injectors is 10 times greater than that of the NiFe injectors, indicating that Heusler compound spin injectors with high spin polarization enable us to materialize a high-performance lateral spin device. The present study is a technological jump in spintronics, and indicates the great potential of ferromagnetic Heusler compounds with half metallicity for generating pure spin currents. Takashi Kimura, Kohei Hamaya and co-workers have generated large pure spin currents at room temperature, with high efficiency. Spintronic devices, which use the spin of electrons as well as their charge, promise to be faster and less power-consuming than traditional charge-based electronic ones. A pure spin current — a flow that is not accompanied by charge current — seems to be a promising way to write information for such devices. However, although ‘spin injectors’ capable of creating such currents have been developed, their efficiency has generally remained too low for practical applications. Now, Kimura, Hamaya and colleagues have significantly improved this efficiency by using a highly ordered cobalt-iron-silicon ‘Heusler’ compound with high spin polarization. These findings highlight the potential of Heusler compounds as spin injectors, and move the construction of functional spintronic devices one step forward. Heusler compound spin injector with a high spin polarization dramatically improves the generation efficiency of the pure spin current compared with a conventional ferromagnetic metal.

Pure spin current generation in monolayer graphene by quantum pumping

We study a method to generate pure spin current in monolayer graphene over a wide range of Fermi energy by adiabatic quantum pumping. The device consists of three gate electrodes and two ferromagnetic strips, which induce a spin-splitting in the graphene through the proximity effect. A pure spin current is generated by applying two periodic oscillating gate voltages. We find that the pumped pure spin current is a sensitive oscillatory function of the Fermi energy. Large spin currents can be found at Fermi energies where there are Fabry–Perot resonances in the barriers. Furthermore, we analyze the effects of the parameters of the system on the pumped currents. Our predicted pumped spin current can be of the order of 100 nA which is measurable using the current technology. The proposed method is useful in the realization of graphene spintronic devices.

Universality of the spin pumping in metallic bilayer films

We show a clear guideline for generating a large spin current using the spin pumping in metallic bilayer films. We measured spin currents generated by the spin pumping in Ni1−xFex/Pt bilayer films using the inverse spin-Hall effect (ISHE). The magnitude of the ISHE signals are well reproduced by a calculation based on the model of the spin pumping. The result shows that the amplitude of a spin current is universally determined by the product of the saturation magnetization, the additional damping constant, and the solid angle of the magnetization precession.

Quantum Dot Spin Filter in Resonant Tunneling and Kondo Regimes

A quantum dot with spin-orbit interaction can work as an efficient spin filter if it is connected to N (> 2) external leads via tunnel barriers. When an unpolarized current is injected to a quantum dot from a lead, polarized currents are ejected to other leads. A two-level quantum dot is examined as a minimal model. First, we show that the spin polarization is markedly enhanced by resonant tunneling when the level spacing in the dot is smaller than the level broadening. Next, we examine the many-body resonance induced by the Kondo effect in the Coulomb blockade regime. A large spin current is generated in the presence of the SU(4) Kondo effect when the level spacing is less than the Kondo temperature.

Spin torque driven excitations in a synthetic antiferromagnet

Spin polarized current induced self oscillations have been investigated in both the free layer and the synthetic antiferromagnetic (SAF) pinned layer of spin valve nanopillars. Compared with free layer excitations, the acoustic type SAF excitations are characterized by high emitted power and much narrower linewidth. Furthermore, in contrast to free layer excitations, the SAF in-plane precession mode exhibits an unexpected crossover from redshift (df/dI<0) to blueshift (df/dI>0) in frequency f versus current I as the in-plane magnetic field is increased. From simulations we identify this crossover as a signature of large amplitude spin current induced precessional dynamics in the SAF.

Remote-control spin filtering through a T-type structure

The authors propose a spin filter scheme using a T-stub waveguide. By applying a moderate magnetic field at the tip of the sidearm, this device can produce both large electric and spin currents. The direction and polarization of the output spin current can be further adjusted electronically by a remote gate which tunes the length of the sidearm. The device is robust against the disorder.