Field-free all-optical switching and electrical read-out of Tb/Co-based magnetic tunnel junctions

Abstract

Switching of magnetic tunnel junction using femto-second laser enables a possible path for THz frequency memory operation, which means writing speeds 2 orders of magnitude faster than alternative electrical approaches based on spin transfer or spin orbit torque. In this work we demonstrate successful field-free 50fs single laser pulse driven magnetization reversal of [Tb/Co] based storage layer in a perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction. The nanofabricated magnetic tunnel junction devices have an optimized bottom reference electrode and show Tunnel Magnetoresistance Ratio values (TMR) up to 74\% after patterning down to sub-100nm lateral dimensions. Experiments on continuous films reveal peculiar reversal patterns of concentric rings with opposite magnetic directions, above certain threshold fluence. These rings have been correlated to patterned device switching probability as a function of the applied laser fluence. Moreover, the magnetization reversal is independent on the duration of the laser pulse. According to our macrospin model, the underlying magnetization reversal mechanism can be attributed to an in-plane reorientation of the magnetization due to a fast reduction of the out-of-plane uniaxial anisotropy. These aspects are of great interest both for the physical understanding of the switching phenomenon and their consequences for all-optical-switching memory devices, since they allow for a large fluence operation window with high resilience to pulse length variability.