arXiv · 1612.07239
Pure spin current transport in gallium doped zinc oxide
Abstract
We study the flow of a pure spin current through zinc oxide by measuring the spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR) in thin film trilayer samples consisting of bismuth-substituted yttrium iron garnet (Bi:YIG), gallium-doped zinc oxide (Ga:ZnO), and platinum. We investigate the dependence of the SMR magnitude on the thickness of the Ga:ZnO interlayer and compare to a Bi:YIG/Pt bilayer. We find that the SMR magnitude is reduced by almost one order of magnitude upon inserting a Ga:ZnO interlayer, and continuously decreases with increasing interlayer thickness. Nevertheless, the SMR stays finite even for a $12\;\mathrm{nm}$ thick Ga:ZnO interlayer. These results show that a pure spin current indeed can propagate through a several nm-thick degenerately doped zinc oxide layer. We also observe differences in both the temperature and the field dependence of the SMR when comparing tri- and bilayers. Finally, we compare our data to predictions of a model based on spin diffusion. This shows that interface resistances play a crucial role for the SMR magnitude in these trilayer structures.
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Matthias Althammer, Joynarayan Mukherjee, Stephan Geprägs, Sebastian T. B. Goennenwein, Matthias Opel, M. S. Ramachandra Rao, Rudolf Gross. 2016-12-21. Pure spin current transport in gallium doped zinc oxide. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4975372
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