Zheng Dongxing, Lan Jin, Fang Bin, Li Yan, Liu Chen, Ledesma-Martin J Omar, Wen Yan, Li Peng, Zhang Chenhui, Ma Yinchang, Qiu Ziqiang, Liu Kai, Manchon Aurélien, Zhang Xixiang
Physical Science and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Materials Physics and Processing Technology, Institute of Advanced Materials Physics, School of Science, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300350, China.
Adv Mater. 2022 Aug;34(34):e2203038. doi: 10.1002/adma.202203038. Epub 2022 Jul 22.
The search for efficient approaches to realize local switching of magnetic moments in spintronic devices has attracted extensive attention. One of the most promising approaches is the electrical manipulation of magnetization through electron-mediated spin torque. However, the Joule heat generated via electron motion unavoidably causes substantial energy dissipation and potential damage to spintronic devices. Here, all-oxide heterostructures of SrRuO /NiO/SrIrO are epitaxially grown on SrTiO single-crystal substrates following the order of the ferromagnetic transition metal oxide SrRuO with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, insulating and antiferromagnetic NiO, and metallic transition metal oxide SrIrO with strong spin-orbit coupling. It is demonstrated that instead of the electron spin torques, the magnon torques present in the antiferromagnetic NiO layer can directly manipulate the perpendicular magnetization of the ferromagnetic layer. This magnon mechanism may significantly reduce the electron motion-related energy dissipation from electron-mediated spin currents. Interestingly, the threshold current density to generate a sufficient magnon current to manipulate the magnetization is one order of magnitude smaller than that in conventional metallic systems. These findings suggest a route for developing highly efficient all-oxide spintronic devices operated by magnon current.
寻找在自旋电子器件中实现磁矩局部切换的有效方法已引起广泛关注。最有前途的方法之一是通过电子介导的自旋扭矩对磁化进行电操纵。然而，电子运动产生的焦耳热不可避免地会导致大量能量耗散，并对自旋电子器件造成潜在损害。在此，SrRuO /NiO/SrIrO的全氧化物异质结构按照具有垂直磁各向异性的铁磁过渡金属氧化物SrRuO、绝缘且反铁磁的NiO以及具有强自旋轨道耦合的金属过渡金属氧化物SrIrO的顺序，外延生长在SrTiO单晶衬底上。结果表明，反铁磁NiO层中存在的磁振子扭矩而非电子自旋扭矩，可以直接操纵铁磁层的垂直磁化。这种磁振子机制可能会显著降低电子介导的自旋电流中与电子运动相关的能量耗散。有趣的是，产生足以操纵磁化的磁振子电流的阈值电流密度比传统金属系统中的小一个数量级。这些发现为开发由磁振子电流驱动的高效全氧化物自旋电子器件提供了一条途径。
