Effects of transition metal spacers on spin-orbit torques, spin Hall magnetoresistance, and magnetic anisotropy of Pt/Co bilayers
Name
PhysRevB.100.235454.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
939.25 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
09dc855b905102dd00b1ccbbd3bc5f01
Author(s)
Avci, Can Onur
Beach, Geoffrey Stephen
Date Issued
December 2019
Journal
Physical Review B
Publisher
American Physical Society (APS)
Citation
Avci, Can Onur, Geoffrey S. D. Beach, and Pietro Gambardella. “Effects of transition metal spacers on spin-orbit torques, spin Hall magnetoresistance, and magnetic anisotropy of Pt/Co bilayers.” Physical Review B, 100, 23 (December 2019): 2469-9950 © 2019 The Author(s)
Version
Final published version
Abstract
We studied the effect of inserting 0.5-nm-thick spacer layers (Ti, V, Cr, Mo, W) at the Pt/Co interface on the spin-orbit torques, the Hall effect, magnetoresistance, saturation magnetization, and magnetic anisotropy. We find that the dampinglike spin-orbit torque decreases substantially for all samples with a spacer layer compared to the reference Pt/Co bilayer, consistently with the opposite sign of the atomic spin-orbit coupling constant of the spacer elements relative to Pt. The reduction of the dampinglike torque is monotonic with atomic number for the isoelectronic 3d,4d, and 5d elements, with the exception of V that has a stronger effect than Cr. The fieldlike spin-orbit torque almost vanishes for all spacer layers irrespective of their composition, suggesting that this torque predominantly originates at the Pt/Co interface. The anomalous Hall effect, magnetoresistance, and saturation magnetization are also all reduced substantially, whereas the sheet resistance is increased in the presence of the spacer layer. Finally, we evidence a correlation between the amplitude of the spin-orbit torques, the spin-Hall-like magnetoresistance, and the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. These results highlight the significant influence of ultrathin spacer layers on the magnetotransport properties of heavy-metal/ferromagnetic systems.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVB.100.235454
