Controllable conical magnetic structure and spin-orbit-torque switching in symmetry-broken ferrimagnetic films

Yaqin Guo; Jing Zhang; Purnima P. Balakrishnan; Alexander J. Grutter; Baishun Yang; Michael R. Fitzsimmons; Timothy R. Charlton; Haile Ambaye; Xu Zhang; Haishen Huang; Zhi Huang; Jinyan Chen; Chenyang Guo; Xiufeng Han; Kang L. Wang; Hao Wu

doi:10.1103/PhysRevApplied.21.014045

Controllable conical magnetic structure and spin-orbit-torque switching in symmetry-broken ferrimagnetic films

Yaqin Guo, Jing Zhang, Purnima P. Balakrishnan, Alexander J. Grutter, Baishun Yang, Michael R. Fitzsimmons, Timothy R. Charlton, Haile Ambaye, Xu Zhang, Haishen Huang, Zhi Huang, Jinyan Chen, Chenyang Guo, Xiufeng Han, Kang L. Wang, Hao Wu

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Exploring and controlling chiral spin textures has attracted enormous interest from the perspective of fundamental research and spintronic applications. Here, we report the emergence of spiral spin states, bulk spin-orbit torque (SOT), and the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) induced with the combination of Bloch- and Néel-type in a single Gd-Fe-Co layer with a vertical composition gradient. Using polarized neutron reflectometry, the magnetization M is found to rotate with depth through the gradient, due to the nonzero out-of-plane DMI (DOOP). Meanwhile, the deterministic SOT magnetization switching in a single Gd-Fe-Co layer without a heavy metal, where the sign of the bulk SOT and in-plane DMI (DIP) is governed by the direction of the composition gradient. The presented results pave the way for flexibly engineering the spin currents and DMI in the ferrimagnetic materials, which have potential applications for future ferrimagnetic SOT devices.

Original language	English
Article number	014045
Journal	Physical Review Applied
Volume	21
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.21.014045
State	Published - Jan 2024
Externally published	Yes

Funding

This work was partially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2022YFA1402801), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, Grants No. 52271239, No. 12134017, No. 12304149), the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (Grant Nos. 2022B1515120058, No. 2022A1515110648, No. 2023A1515010953), and the start-up funding from Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory (Grant No. Y1D1071S511). The work at UCLA was supported by the U.S. Army Research Office MURI program under Grants No. W911NF-16-1-0472 and No. W911NF-20-2-0166. This research used resources at the Spallation Neutron Source, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Funders	Funder number
Army Research Office	W911NF-20-2-0166, W911NF-16-1-0472
Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory	Y1D1071S511
National Natural Science Foundation of China	12134017, 12304149, 52271239
National Key Research and Development Program of China	2022YFA1402801
Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation of Guangdong Province	2022B1515120058, 2022A1515110648, 2023A1515010953

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10.1103/PhysRevApplied.21.014045

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Guo, Y., Zhang, J., Balakrishnan, P. P., Grutter, A. J., Yang, B., Fitzsimmons, M. R., Charlton, T. R., Ambaye, H., Zhang, X., Huang, H., Huang, Z., Chen, J., Guo, C., Han, X., Wang, K. L., & Wu, H. (2024). Controllable conical magnetic structure and spin-orbit-torque switching in symmetry-broken ferrimagnetic films. Physical Review Applied, 21(1), Article 014045. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.21.014045

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title = "Controllable conical magnetic structure and spin-orbit-torque switching in symmetry-broken ferrimagnetic films",

abstract = "Exploring and controlling chiral spin textures has attracted enormous interest from the perspective of fundamental research and spintronic applications. Here, we report the emergence of spiral spin states, bulk spin-orbit torque (SOT), and the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) induced with the combination of Bloch- and N{\'e}el-type in a single Gd-Fe-Co layer with a vertical composition gradient. Using polarized neutron reflectometry, the magnetization M is found to rotate with depth through the gradient, due to the nonzero out-of-plane DMI (DOOP). Meanwhile, the deterministic SOT magnetization switching in a single Gd-Fe-Co layer without a heavy metal, where the sign of the bulk SOT and in-plane DMI (DIP) is governed by the direction of the composition gradient. The presented results pave the way for flexibly engineering the spin currents and DMI in the ferrimagnetic materials, which have potential applications for future ferrimagnetic SOT devices.",

author = "Yaqin Guo and Jing Zhang and Balakrishnan, {Purnima P.} and Grutter, {Alexander J.} and Baishun Yang and Fitzsimmons, {Michael R.} and Charlton, {Timothy R.} and Haile Ambaye and Xu Zhang and Haishen Huang and Zhi Huang and Jinyan Chen and Chenyang Guo and Xiufeng Han and Wang, {Kang L.} and Hao Wu",

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doi = "10.1103/PhysRevApplied.21.014045",

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Guo, Y, Zhang, J, Balakrishnan, PP, Grutter, AJ, Yang, B, Fitzsimmons, MR, Charlton, TR , Ambaye, H, Zhang, X, Huang, H, Huang, Z, Chen, J, Guo, C, Han, X, Wang, KL & Wu, H 2024, 'Controllable conical magnetic structure and spin-orbit-torque switching in symmetry-broken ferrimagnetic films', Physical Review Applied, vol. 21, no. 1, 014045. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.21.014045

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T1 - Controllable conical magnetic structure and spin-orbit-torque switching in symmetry-broken ferrimagnetic films

AU - Guo, Yaqin

AU - Zhang, Jing

AU - Balakrishnan, Purnima P.

AU - Grutter, Alexander J.

AU - Yang, Baishun

AU - Fitzsimmons, Michael R.

AU - Charlton, Timothy R.

AU - Ambaye, Haile

AU - Zhang, Xu

AU - Huang, Haishen

AU - Huang, Zhi

AU - Chen, Jinyan

AU - Guo, Chenyang

AU - Han, Xiufeng

AU - Wang, Kang L.

AU - Wu, Hao

PY - 2024/1

Y1 - 2024/1

N2 - Exploring and controlling chiral spin textures has attracted enormous interest from the perspective of fundamental research and spintronic applications. Here, we report the emergence of spiral spin states, bulk spin-orbit torque (SOT), and the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) induced with the combination of Bloch- and Néel-type in a single Gd-Fe-Co layer with a vertical composition gradient. Using polarized neutron reflectometry, the magnetization M is found to rotate with depth through the gradient, due to the nonzero out-of-plane DMI (DOOP). Meanwhile, the deterministic SOT magnetization switching in a single Gd-Fe-Co layer without a heavy metal, where the sign of the bulk SOT and in-plane DMI (DIP) is governed by the direction of the composition gradient. The presented results pave the way for flexibly engineering the spin currents and DMI in the ferrimagnetic materials, which have potential applications for future ferrimagnetic SOT devices.

AB - Exploring and controlling chiral spin textures has attracted enormous interest from the perspective of fundamental research and spintronic applications. Here, we report the emergence of spiral spin states, bulk spin-orbit torque (SOT), and the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) induced with the combination of Bloch- and Néel-type in a single Gd-Fe-Co layer with a vertical composition gradient. Using polarized neutron reflectometry, the magnetization M is found to rotate with depth through the gradient, due to the nonzero out-of-plane DMI (DOOP). Meanwhile, the deterministic SOT magnetization switching in a single Gd-Fe-Co layer without a heavy metal, where the sign of the bulk SOT and in-plane DMI (DIP) is governed by the direction of the composition gradient. The presented results pave the way for flexibly engineering the spin currents and DMI in the ferrimagnetic materials, which have potential applications for future ferrimagnetic SOT devices.

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Controllable conical magnetic structure and spin-orbit-torque switching in symmetry-broken ferrimagnetic films

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