Browsing by Author "Csaba, Gyorgy"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Spin-orbit torque-assisted switching in magnetic insulator thin films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy
    (Nature Portfolio, 2016) Li, Peng; Liu, Tao; Chang, Houchen; Kalitsov, Alan; Zhang, Wei; Csaba, Gyorgy; Li, Wei; Richardson, Daniel; DeMann, August; Rimal, Gaurab; Dey, Himadri; Jiang, J. S.; Porod, Wolfgang; Field, Stuart B.; Tang, Jinke; Marconi, Mario C.; Hoffmann, Axel; Mryasov, Oleg; Wu, Mingzhong; Colorado State University; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa; United States Department of Energy (DOE); Argonne National Laboratory; University of Notre Dame; University of Wyoming
    As an in-plane charge current flows in a heavy metal film with spin-orbit coupling, it produces a torque on and thereby switches the magnetization in a neighbouring ferromagnetic metal film. Such spin-orbit torque (SOT)-induced switching has been studied extensively in recent years and has shown higher efficiency than switching using conventional spin-transfer torque. Here we report the SOT-assisted switching in heavy metal/magnetic insulator systems. The experiments used a Pt/BaFe12O19 bilayer where the BaFe12O19 layer exhibits perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. As a charge current is passed through the Pt film, it produces a SOT that can control the up and down states of the remnant magnetization in the BaFe12O19 film when the film is magnetized by an in-plane magnetic field. It can reduce or increase the switching field of the BaFe12O19 film by as much as about 500 Oe when the film is switched with an out-of-plane field.