Spin Current Generation Research Articles

Perfect spin filtering effect, tunnel magnetoresistance and thermoelectric effect in metals-adsorbed blue phosphorene nanoribbons

The thermoelectric transport properties of Fe- and Ti-adsorbed blue phosphorene nanoribbons are studied using the first principles approach. The research indicates that Fe- and Ti-adsorbed blue phosphorene nanoribbons exhibit spin-dependent Seebeck effect. The devices based on the Fe-adsorbed blue phosphorene nanoribbons show perfect spin filtering effect caused by 100% spin polarization and 106% tunnel magnetoresistance. The spin-up current and the spin-down current are reversed in Ti-adsorbed blue phosphorene nanoribbons, indicating that a large spin current and a small charge current can be generated. These systems also exhibit negative differential resistance induced by the current-voltage curve. The band structures and transport spectrums are utilized to explain the physical mechanism of spin current generation. Metals-adsorbed blue phosphorene nanoribbons can be considered novel thermoelectric materials and used to make multifunctional thermal spintronic devices.

Generation of spin currents by a temperature gradient in a two-terminal device

Theoretical and experimental studies of the interaction between spins and temperature are vital for the development of spin caloritronics, as they dictate the design of future devices. In this work, we propose a two-terminal cold-atom simulator to study that interaction. The proposed quantum simulator consists of strongly interacting atoms that occupy two temperature reservoirs connected by a one-dimensional link. First, we argue that the dynamics in the link can be described using an inhomogeneous Heisenberg spin chain whose couplings are defined by the local temperature. Second, we show the existence of a spin current in a system with a temperature difference by studying the dynamics that follows the spin-flip of an atom in the link. A temperature gradient accelerates the impurity in one direction more than in the other, leading to an overall spin current similar to the spin Seebeck effect.

Highly efficient spin-current generation from Pt/Ru multilayers

Increasing spin Hall angle of heavy metals has attracted considerable attention due to their potential applications in spintronic technology. Here, we demonstrate that the spin Hall angle could be enhanced dramatically in the Ta/[Pt/Ru]n/Pt/Co/Ta multilayers. The spin Hall angle reaches a maximum value of 0.28 when n = 5 from the loop-shift method with a relative low resistivity of approximately 48 μΩ cm. Meanwhile a minimum critical switching current density approximately 3.2 × 106 A/cm2 under an in-plane bias magnetic field around 5% of the perpendicular anisotropy field was obtained for the sample with n = 5 in current-induced magnetization switching experiment. We find that the extrinsic spin Hall mechanism changes from the spin skew scattering when n < 2 to spin side-jump mechanism when n > 2. This work provides an effective way in increasing spin Hall angle for low-power consumption spintronics devices.

Spin pumping in noncollinear antiferromagnets

The ac spin pumping of noncollinear antiferromagnets is theoretically investigated. Starting from an effective action description of the spin system, we derive the Onsager coefficients connecting the spin pumping and spin-transfer torque associated with the dynamics of the SO(3)-valued antiferromagnetic order parameter. Our theory is applied to a kagome antiferromagnet resonantly driven by a uniform external magnetic field. We demonstrate that the reactive (dissipative) spin-transfer torque parameter can be extracted from the pumped ac spin current in-phase (in quadrature) with the driving field. Furthermore, we find that the three spin-wave bands of the kagome AF generate spin currents with mutually orthogonal polarization directions. This offers a unique way of controlling the spin orientation of the pumped spin current by exciting different spin-wave modes.

PT-Symmetry-Enabled Spin Circular Photogalvanic Effect in Antiferromagnetic Insulators.

The short timescale spin dynamics in antiferromagnets is an attractive feature from the standpoint of ultrafast spintronics. Yet generating highly polarized spin current at room temperature remains a fundamental challenge for antiferromagnets. We propose a spin circular photogalvanic effect (spin CPGE), in which circularly polarized light can produce a highly spin-polarized current at room temperature, through an "injection-current-like" mechanism in parity-time (PT)-symmetric antiferromagnetic (AFM) insulators. We demonstrate this effect by first-principles simulations of bilayer CrI_{3} and room-temperature-AFM hematite. The spin CPGE is significant, and the magnitude of spin photocurrent is comparable with the widely observed charge photocurrent in ferroelectric materials. Interestingly, this spin photocurrent is not sensitive to spin-orbit interactions, which were regarded as fundamental mechanisms for generating spin current. Given the fast response of light-matter interactions, large energy scale, and insensitivity to spin-orbit interactions, our work gives hope to realizing fast-dynamic and temperature-robust pure spin current in a wide range of PT-symmetric AFM materials, including topological axion insulators and weak-relativistic magnetic insulators.

Large spin-charge interconversion induced by interfacial spin-orbit coupling in a highly conducting all-metallic system

Spin-charge interconversion in systems with spin-orbit coupling has provided a new route for the generation and detection of spin currents in functional devices for memory and logic such as spin-orbit torque switching in magnetic memories or magnetic state reading in spin-based logic. Disentangling the bulk (spin Hall effect) from the interfacial (inverse spin galvanic effect) contribution has been a common issue to properly quantify the spin-charge interconversion in these systems, being the case of Au paradigmatic. Here, we obtain a large spin-charge interconversion at a highly conducting Au/Cu interface which is experimentally shown to arise from the inverse spin galvanic effect of the interface and not from the spin Hall effect of bulk Au. We use two parameters independent of the microscopic details to properly quantify the spin-charge interconversion and the spin losses due to the interfacial spin-orbit coupling, providing an adequate benchmarking to compare with any spin-charge interconversion system. The good performance of this metallic interface, not based in Bi, opens the path to the use of much simpler light/heavy metal systems.

Efficient conversion of orbital Hall current to spin current for spin-orbit torque switching

Spin Hall effect, an electric generation of spin current, allows for efficient control of magnetization. Recent theory revealed that orbital Hall effect creates orbital current, which can be much larger than spin-Hall-induced spin current. However, orbital current cannot directly exert a torque on a ferromagnet, requiring a conversion process from orbital current to spin current. Here, we report two effective methods of the conversion through spin-orbit coupling engineering, which allows us to unambiguously demonstrate orbital-current-induced spin torque, or orbital Hall torque. We find that orbital Hall torque is greatly enhanced by introducing either a rare-earth ferromagnet Gd or a Pt interfacial layer with strong spin-orbit coupling in Cr/ferromagnet structures, indicating that the orbital current generated in Cr is efficiently converted into spin current in the Gd or Pt layer. Our results offer a pathway to utilize the orbital current to further enhance the magnetization switching efficiency in spin-orbit-torque-based spintronic devices.

Magnetoelastic coupling enabled tunability of magnon spin current generation in two-dimensional antiferromagnets

We theoretically investigate the magnetoelastic coupling (MEC) and its effect on magnon transport in two-dimensional antiferromagnets with a honeycomb lattice. MEC coeffcient along with magnetic exchange parameters and spring constants are computed for monolayers of transition metal trichalcogenides with N\'eel order ($\text{MnPS}_3$ and $\text{VPS}_3$) and zigzag order ($\text{CrSiTe}_3$, $\text{NiPS}_3$ and $\text{NiPSe}_3$) by $ab$ $initio$ calculations. Using these parameters, we predict that the spin-Nernst coefficient is significantly enhanced due to magnetoelastic coupling. Our study shows that although Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction can produce spin Nernst effect in these materials, other mechanisms such as magnon-phonon coupling should be taken into account. We also demonstrate that the magnetic anisotropy is an important factor for control of magnon-phonon hybridization and enhancement of the Berry curvature and thus the spin-Nernst coefficient. Our results pave the way towards gate tunable spin current generation in 2D magnets by SNE via electric field modulation of MEC and anisotropy.

Spin–orbit torque magnetization switching in a perpendicularly magnetized full Heusler alloy Co2FeSi

To optimize the writing and reading performance of magnetic random-access memory (MRAM) devices, achieving current-induced spin–orbit torque (SOT) magnetization switching in perpendicularly magnetized full Heusler alloys is vitally important. For conventional SOT-metal bilayer systems, heavy metals (HMs) with a large spin Hall angle (θSH) are generally used for generating a spin current, which is injected into the adjacent ferromagnet (FM) layer and exerts a torque on the magnetization to switch it. However, the large resistivity of generally used HMs such as β-Ta and β-W can increase the Ohmic loss. In this article, we achieve full SOT switching in Heusler alloy Co2FeSi using low-resistivity Pd as a spin current generation source. The critical switching current density is found to be 3.7 × 107 A cm−2, which is in the same order of magnitude as that required for conventional HM/FM systems even though Pd has a smaller θSH than that of generally used HMs. Using harmonic Hall measurements, the damping-like and field-like effective fields per unit current density are estimated to be 56.9 (10−7 Oe A−1 cm2) and 39.8 (10−7 Oe A−1 cm2), respectively. This high efficiency can be attributed to the excellent lattice matching between Co2FeSi and Pd (only 2% mismatch), to a slight Pd diffusion, and possibly to the additional SOTs induced by the in-plane spin component generated in the Co2FeSi layer. Our finding will advance the development of SOT-MRAM devices with both better reading and writing performance.

Dissipation-relaxation dynamics of a spin- 12 particle with a Rashba-type spin-orbit coupling in an ohmic heat bath

Spin-orbit coupling (SOC), which is inherent to a Dirac particle that moves under the influence of electromagnetic fields, manifests itself in a variety of physical systems including non-relativistic ones. For instance, it plays an essential role in spintronics developed in the past few decades, particularly by controlling spin current generation and relaxation. In the present work, by using an extended Caldeira-Leggett model, we elucidate how the interplay between spin relaxation and momentum dissipation of an open system of a single spin-$1/2$ particle with a Rashba type SOC is induced by the interactions with a spinless, three-dimensional environment. Staring from the path integral formulation for the reduced density matrix of the system, we have derived a set of coupled nonlinear equations that consists of a quasi-classical Langevin equation for the momentum with a frictional term and a spin precession equation. The spin precesses around the effective magnetic field generated by both the SOC and the frictional term. It is found from analytical and numerical solutions to these equations that a spin torque effect included in the effective magnetic field causes a spin relaxation and that the spin and momentum orientations after a long time evolution are largely controlled by the Rashba coupling strength. Such a spin relaxation mechanism is qualitatively different from, e.g., the one encountered in semiconductors where essentially no momentum dissipation occurs due to the Pauli blocking.

Spin Current Transport in Hybrid Pt/Multifunctional Magnetoelectric Ga0.6Fe1.4O3 Bilayers

The low power manipulation of magnetization is currently a highly sought-after objective in spintronics. Non ferromagnetic large spin-orbit coupling heavy metal (NM) / ferromagnet (FM) heterostructures offer interesting elements of response to this issue, by granting the manipulation of the FM magnetization by the NM spin Hall effect (SHE) generated spin current. Additional functionalities, such as the electric field control of the spin current generation, can be offered using multifunctional ferromagnets. We have studied the spin current transfer processes between Pt and the multifunctional magnetoelectric Ga0.6Fe1.4O3 (GFO). In particular, via angular dependent magnetotransport measurements, we were able to differentiate between magnetic proximity effect (MPE)-induced anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) and spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR). Our analysis shows that SMR is the dominant phenomenon at all temperatures and is the only one to be considered near room temperature, with a magnitude comparable to those observed in Pd/YIG or Pt/YIG heterostructures. These results indicate that magnetoelectric GFO thin films show promises for achieving an electric-field control of the spin current generation in NM/FM oxide-based heterostructures.

Chirality-selective easily adjustable spin current from uniaxial antiferromagnets

Spin current generation and injection in antiferromagnetic heterostructures opens up new perspectives in the fields of nanoelectronics, spintronics, and quantum computation. Here, we theoretically investigate terahertz spin current in an antiferromagnet (AFM)/normal metal (NM) heterostructure generated by spin pumping. Under the framework of linear response theory, we compute the alternating spin current (ac spin current) inside the NM of the heterostructure arising from the spin pumping of a resonant terahertz magnetic field inside the AFM. An external direct current (dc) magnetic field is also applied to tune the resonance frequency of the AFM, allowing the resonance between terahertz field and AFM to be achieved more easily. In both uniaxial antiferromagnets MnF2 and Cr2O3, we find that once the driving THz field is resonant and circular polarized according to the resonance mode of the AFM, the amplitude of ac spin current is independent of the external magnetic field. On the other hand, in the biaxial antiferromagnet NiO under the same pumping conditions, such a phenomenon is not observed, which can be ascribed to the complicated nondegenerate elliptical chiral mode in biaxial AFMs. More interestingly, for both types of AFMs, we find that the ac component of the spin current increases linearly with the applied terahertz magnetic field distinct from the dc component that increases quadratically. The aforementioned features in uniaxial AFMs provide an easily tunable guideline to optimize the generation of high-frequency spin current by a given terahertz pumping source.

Spin Hall effect in heavy-ion collisions

Spin Hall effect (SHE) is the generation of spin current due to an electric field, and has been observed in a variety of materials. In this work, we use linear response theory to verify that the analogous spin Hall current can be induced by chemical potential and temperature gradient, both of which are present in hot and dense nuclear matter created in heavy-ion collisions. We propose to measure ``directed spin flow'', the first Fourier coefficients of local spin polarization of $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}$ $(\overline{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}})$ hyperon, at central collisions to probe spin Hall current in heavy-ion collision experiments. We benchmark the magnitude of the induced ``directed spin flow'' at two representatively collisions energies, namely ${\sqrt{s}}_{NN}=200\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$ and ${\sqrt{s}}_{NN}=19.6\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$, by employing a phenomenologically motivated freeze-out prescription. At both beam energies, the resulting ``directed spin flow'' ranges from ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$ to ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$, and is very sensitive to the rapidity.

Tuning the magnetic and electronic properties of monolayer VI3 by 3d transition metal doping: A first-principles study

Two-dimensional (2D) materials with robust magnetism have drawn immense attention for their promising applications in spintronics. Recently, intrinsic ferromagnetic vanadium triiodide (VI3) has been synthesized experimentally. To enhance its spintronic property, we modified VI3 by interstitial doping with 3d transition metals (TM) and used first-principles calculations to investigate the geometric structure, formation energy, electronic property, and magnetism of pristine VI3 and 3d TM-doped VI3 monolayer. Among eight transition metal (Sc-, Ti-, V-, Cr-, Mn-, Fe-, Co-, and Ni-) doped VI3 materials, four of them (Ti-, V-, Mn-, and Ni-doped VI3) show robust magnetism with full spin polarization near the Fermi energy. Our research demonstrates that Ti-doped VI3 results in half-metallic semiconductor properties (HMS), while V-doped VI3 and Ni-doped VI3 result in half-semiconductor properties (HSC). Surprisingly, Mn-doped VI3 exhibits an unusual bipolar magnetic semiconductor property (BMS). This unique combination of strong ferromagnetism and 100% spin polarization with a half-metallic, half-semiconductor, or bipolar semiconductor property renders 3d TM-doped VI3 as potential candidates for next generation semiconductor spintronic applications. These spin-polarized materials will be extremely useful for spin-current generation and other spintronic applications.

Theoretical study of extrinsic spin current generation in ferromagnets induced by anisotropic spin-flip scattering

The spin Hall effect (SHE) and the magnetic spin Hall effect (MSHE) are responsible for electrical spin current generation, which is a key concept of modern spintronics. We theoretically investigated the spin conductivity induced by spin-dependent s-d scattering in a ferromagnetic 3d alloy model by employing microscopic transport theory based on the Kubo formula. We derived a novel extrinsic mechanism that contributes to both the SHE and MSHE. This mechanism can be understood as the contribution from anisotropic (spatial-dependent) spin-flip scattering due to the combination of the orbital-dependent anisotropic shape of s-d hybridization and spin flipping, with the orbital shift caused by spin-orbit interaction with the d-orbitals. We also show that this mechanism is valid under crystal-field splitting among the d-orbitals in either the cubic or tetragonal symmetry.

Helicity current generation by distorted Rashba coupling

We theoretically study spin transport in two-or three-dimensional Rashba systems dynamically distorted by surface acoustic waves. The spin currents in the linear response to lattice distortion dynamics are calculated on the basis of a microscopic theory combined with local coordinate transformations. As a result, we find a mechanism of direct spin-current generation from lattice distortion not associated with a charge current or spin accumulation. Moreover, the in-plane helicity currents are generated by shear surface acoustic waves via the present mechanism. The generated helicity currents are not parallel to the vorticity of the lattice, and cannot be created with the conventional methods. Thus, our findings offer an alternative functionality of the conventional Rashba systems in the field of spintronics.

Neutron Scattering Study on Yttrium Iron Garnet for Spintronics

Spin current -- a flow of the spin degree of freedom in matter -- has vital importance in spintronics. Propagation of the spin current ranges over a whole momentum space; however, generated spin currents are mainly detected in the long-wavelength limit. To facilitate practical uses of spintronics and magnonics, microscopic understanding of the spin current is necessary. We here address yttrium iron garnet, which is a well-employed ferrimagnet for spintronics, and review {\it in re} the momentum- and energy-resolved characteristics of its magnetism. Using {\it unpolarized} neutrons, we refined its detailed crystal and magnetic structure, and examined magnetic excitations through four decades (10~$\mu$eV-100~meV) using chopper spectrometers in J-PARC, Japan. We also measured mode-resolved directions of the precessional motion of the magnetic moment, i.e., magnon polarization, which carries the spin current in insulators through {\it polarized} neutron scattering, using a triple-axis spectrometer in ILL, France. The magnon polarization is a hitherto untested fundamental property of magnets, affecting the thermodynamic properties of the spin current. Our momentum- and energy-resolved experimental findings provide an intuitive understanding of the spin current and demonstrate the importance of neutron scattering techniques for spintronics and magnonics.

Maximizing spin-orbit torque generated by the spin Hall effect of Pt

Efficient generation of spin–orbit torques is central for the exciting field of spin-orbitronics. Platinum, the archetypal spin Hall material, has the potential to be an outstanding provider for spin–orbit torques due to its giant spin Hall conductivity, low resistivity, high stabilities, and the ability to be compatible with CMOS circuits. However, pure clean-limit Pt with low resistivity still provides a low damping-like spin–orbit torque efficiency, which limits its practical applications. The efficiency of spin–orbit torque in Pt-based magnetic heterostructures can be improved considerably by increasing the spin Hall ratio of Pt and the spin transmissivity of the interfaces. Here we review recent advances in understanding the physics of spin current generation, interfacial spin transport, and the metrology of spin–orbit torques and summarize progress toward the goal of Pt-based spin–orbit torque memories and logic that are fast, efficient, reliable, scalable, and nonvolatile.

Spin Hall effect in a spin-1 chiral semimetal

The spin-1 chiral semimetal is a state of quantum matter hosting unconventional chiral fermions that extend beyond the common Dirac and Weyl fermions. B20-type CoSi is a prototypal material that accommodates such an exotic quasiparticle. To date, the spin-transport properties in the spin-1 chiral semimetals have not been thoroughly explored. In this work, we fabricated B20-CoSi thin films on sapphire $c$-plane substrates by magnetron sputtering and studied the spin Hall effect (SHE) by combining experiments and first-principles calculations. The SHE of CoSi was investigated using CoSi/CoFeB/MgO heterostructures via spin Hall magnetoresistance and harmonic Hall measurements. First-principles calculations yield an intrinsic spin Hall conductivity (SHC) at the Fermi level that is consistent with the experiments and reveal its unique Fermi-energy dependence. Unlike the Dirac and Weyl fermion-mediated Hall conductivities that exhibit a peaklike structure centering around the topological node, SHC of B20-CoSi is odd and crosses zero at the node with two antisymmetric local extrema of opposite sign situated below and above in energy. Hybridization between Co $d$-Si $p$ orbitals and spin-orbit coupling are essential for the SHC, despite the small (\ensuremath{\sim}1%) weight of the Si $p$ orbital near the Fermi level. This work expands the horizon of topological spintronics and highlights the importance of Fermi-level tuning in order to fully exploit the topology of spin-1 chiral fermions for spin-current generation.

Pure spin photocurrent in non-centrosymmetric crystals: bulk spin photovoltaic effect

Spin current generators are critical components for spintronics-based information processing. In this work, we theoretically and computationally investigate the bulk spin photovoltaic (BSPV) effect for creating DC spin current under light illumination. The only requirement for BSPV is inversion symmetry breaking, thus it applies to a broad range of materials and can be readily integrated with existing semiconductor technologies. The BSPV effect is a cousin of the bulk photovoltaic (BPV) effect, whereby a DC charge current is generated under light. Thanks to the different selection rules on spin and charge currents, a pure spin current can be realized if the system possesses mirror symmetry or inversion-mirror symmetry. The mechanism of BSPV and the role of the electronic relaxation time tau are also elucidated. We apply our theory to several distinct materials, including monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides, anti-ferromagnetic bilayer MnBi2Te4, and the surface of topological crystalline insulator cubic SnTe.