arXiv subjects

Andrew D. Kent

Publications and source records attributed to Andrew D. Kent.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Spin transport in antiferromagnetic NiO and magnetoresistance in Y$_3$Fe$_5$O$_{12}$/NiO/Pt structures

We have studied spin transport and magnetoresistance in yttrium iron garnet (YIG)/NiO/Pt trilayers with varied NiO thickness. To characterize the spin transport through NiO we excite ferromagnetic resonance in YIG with a microwave frequency magnetic field and detect the voltage associated with the inverse spin-Hall effect (ISHE) in the Pt layer. The ISHE signal is found to decay exponentially with the NiO thickness with a characteristic decay length of 3.9 nm. This is contrasted with the magnetoresistance in these same structures. The symmetry of the magnetoresistive response is consistent with spin-Hall magnetoresistance (SMR). However, in contrast to the ISHE response, as the NiO thickness increases the SMR signal goes towards zero abruptly at a NiO thickness of $\simeq$ 4 nm, highlighting the different length scales associated with the spin-transport in NiO and SMR in such trilayers.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Effect of temperature on spin-transfer torque induced magnetic solitons

Spin-transfer torques in a nanocontact to an extended magnetic film can create spin waves that condense to form dissipative droplet solitons. Here we report an experimental study of the temperature dependence of the current and applied field thresholds for droplet soliton formation, as well as the nanocontact's electrical characteristics associated with droplet dynamics. Nucleation of droplet solitons requires higher current densities at higher temperatures, in contrast to typical spin-transfer torque induced switching between static magnetic states. Magnetoresistance and electrical noise measurements show that soliton instabilities become more pronounced with increasing temperature. These results are of fundamental interest in understanding the influence of thermal noise on droplet solitons, and in controlling their dynamics.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

A reduced model for precessional switching of thin-film nanomagnets under the influence of spin-torque

We study the magnetization dynamics of thin-film magnetic elements with in-plane magnetization subject to a spin-current flowing perpendicular to the film plane. We derive a reduced partial differential equation for the in-plane magnetization angle in a weakly damped regime. We then apply this model to study the experimentally relevant problem of switching of an elliptical element when the spin-polarization has a component perpendicular to the film plane, restricting the reduced model to a macrospin approximation. The macrospin ordinary differential equation is treated analytically as a weakly damped Hamiltonian system, and an orbit-averaging method is used to understand transitions in solution behaviors in terms of a discrete dynamical system. The predictions of our reduced model are compared to those of the full Landau--Lifshitz--Gilbert--Slonczewski equation for a macrospin.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Reliable spin-transfer torque driven precessional magnetization reversal with an adiabatically decaying pulse

We show that a slowly decaying current pulse can lead to nearly deterministic precessional switching in the presence of noise. We consider a biaxial macrospin, with an easy axis in the plane and a hard axis out-of-the plane, typical of thin film nanomagnets patterned into asymmetric shapes. Out-of-plane precessional magnetization orbits are excited with a current pulse with a component of spin polarization normal to the film plane. By numerically integrating the stochastic Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert-Slonczewski equation we show that thermal noise leads to strong dephasing of the magnetization orbits. However, an adiabatically decreasing pulse amplitude overwhelmingly leads to magnetization reversal, with a final state that {\em only} depends on the pulse polarity, not on the pulse amplitude. We develop an analytic model to explain this phenomena and to determine the pulse decay time necessary for adiabatic magnetization relaxation and thus precessional magnetization switching.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Quasistatic and Pulsed Current-Induced Switching with Spin-Orbit Torques in Ultrathin Films with Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy

Spin-orbit interaction derived spin torques provide a means of reversing the magnetization of perpendicularly magnetized ultrathin films with currents that flow in the plane of the layers. A basic and critical question for applications is the speed and efficiency of switching with nanosecond current pulses. Here we investigate and contrast the quasistatic (slowly swept current) and pulsed current-induced switching characteristics of micron scale Hall crosses consisting of very thin ($<1$ nm) perpendicularly magnetized CoFeB layers on $β$-Ta. While complete magnetization reversal is found at a threshold current density in the quasistatic case, short duration ($\leq 10$ ns) larger amplitude pulses ($\simeq 10 \times$ the quasistatic threshold current) lead to only partial magnetization reversal and domain formation. We associate the partial reversal with the limited time for reversed domain expansion during the pulse.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Observation of droplet soliton drift resonances in a spin-transfer-torque nanocontact to a ferromagnetic thin film

Magnetic droplet solitons are non-linear dynamical modes that can be excited in a thin film with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy with a spin-transfer-torque. Although droplet solitons have been proved to be stable with a hysteretic response to applied currents and magnetic fields at low temperature, measurements at room temperature indicate less stability and reduced hysteresis width. Here, we report evidence of droplet soliton drift instabilities, leading to drift resonances, at room temperature that explains their lower stability. Micromagnetic simulations show that the drift instability is produced by an effective field asymmetry in the nanocontact region that can have different origins.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Large Fluctuations and Singular Behavior of Nonequilibrium Systems

We present a general geometrical approach to the problem of escape from a metastable state in the presence of noise. The accompanying analysis leads to a simple condition, based on the norm of the drift field, for determining whether caustic singularities alter the escape trajectories when detailed balance is absent. We apply our methods to systems lacking detailed balance, including a nanomagnet with a biaxial magnetic anisotropy and subject to a spin transfer torque. The approach described within allows determination of the regions of experimental parameter space that admit caustics.

math-ph↗

arXiv2015

Eddy current interactions in a Ferromagnet-Normal metal bilayer structure, and its impact on ferromagnetic resonance lineshapes

We investigate the effect of eddy currents on ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) in ferromagnet-normal metal (FM/NM) bilayer structures. Eddy-current effects are usually neglected for NM layer thicknesses below the microwave (MW) skin depth (approx. 800 nm for Au at 10 GHz). However, we show that in much thinner NM layers (10-100 nm of Au or Cu) they induce a phase shift in the FMR excitation when the MW driving field has a component perpendicular to the sample plane. This results in a strong asymmetry of the measured absorption lines. In contrast to typical eddy-current effects, the asymmetry is larger for thinner NM layers and is tunable through changing the sample geometry and the NM layer thickness.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Spin Torque Oscillators with Thermal Noise: A Constant Energy Orbit Approach

We consider a biaxial macrospin with an easy and hard axis, and study its dynamical evolution under the combined effects of thermal noise and spin transfer torque. The spin-torque is associated with both a perpendicularly magnetized polarizer and an in-plane magnetized reference layer, leading to an effective tilt between the easy and spin polarization axes. Using techniques based on energy averaging over the relevant dynamical trajectories, we analyze the effects of tilt on the dynamics and derive the conditions for the occurrence of stable out-of-plane precessionary states. The presence of these states and their predicted stability boundaries can be tested in experiments on orthogonal spin-transfer devices, and may also serve as a test of the applicability of the macrospin model to real devices, which have internal magnetic degrees of freedom.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Thickness dependence of dynamic and static magnetic properties of pulsed laser deposited La$_{0.7}$Sr$_{0.3}$MnO$_3$ films on SrTiO$_3$(001)

We present a comprehensive study of the thickness dependence of static and magneto-dynamic magnetic properties of La$_{0.7}$Sr$_{0.3}$MnO$_3$. Epitaxial pulsed laser deposited La$_{0.7}$Sr$_{0.3}$MnO$_3$ / SrTiO$_3$(001) thin films in the range from 3 unit cells (uc) to 40 uc (1.2 - 16 nm) have been investigated through ferromagnetic resonance spectroscopy (FMR) and SQUID magnetometry at variable temperature. Magnetodynamically, three different thickness, $d$, regimes are identified: 20 uc $\lesssim d$ uc where the system is bulk like, a transition region 8 uc $\le d \lesssim 20$ uc where the FMR line width and position depend on thickness and $d=6$ uc which displays significantly altered magnetodynamic properties, while still displaying bulk magnetization. Magnetization and FMR measurements are consistent with a nonmagnetic volume corresponding to $\sim$ 4 uc. We observe a reduction of Curie temperature ($T_C$) with decreasing thickness, which is coherent with a mean field model description. The reduced ordering temperature also accounts for the thickness dependence of the magnetic anisotropy constants and resonance fields. The damping of the system is strongly thickness dependent, and is for thin films dominated by thickness dependent anisotropies, yielding both a strong 2-magnon scattering close to $T_c$ and a low temperature broadening. For the bulk like samples a large part of the broadening can be linked to spread in magnetic anisotropies attributed to crystal imperfections/domain boundaries of the bulk like film.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Bipolar switching in an orthogonal spin transfer spin valve device

We demonstrate current-induced bipolar switching in in-plane magnetized spin-valve devices that incorporate a perpendicularly magnetized spin polarizing layer. Further, hysteretic transitions into a state with intermediate resistance occur at high currents, again for both current polarities. These transitions are shown to be consistent with a macrospin model that considers a spin-polarized current that is tilted with respect to the free layer plane, due to the presence of spin-transfer torque from the polarizing layer. These unique switching characteristics, which have their origin in the noncollinear layer magnetizations, are of interest for magnetic random access memory and spin-torque oscillator devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Stable Magnetic Droplet Solitons in Spin Transfer Nanocontacts

Magnetic thin films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) have localized excitations that correspond to reversed dynamically precessing magnetic moments, known as magnetic droplet solitons. Fundamentally, these excitations are associated with an attractive interaction between elementary spin-excitations (i.e., magnons) and were predicted to occur in PMA materials in the absence of damping [1,2]. While damping, present in all magnetic materials, suppresses these excitations, it is now possible to compensate damping by spin transfer torques through electrical current flow in nanometer scale contacts to ferromagnetic thin films [3,4]. A theory predicts the appearance of magnetic droplet solitons at a threshold current in nanocontacts [5] and, recently, experimental signatures of droplet nucleation have been reported [6]. However, thus far, they have been observed to be nearly reversible excitations, with only partially reversed magnetization and to be subject to instabilities that cause them to drift away from the nanocontacts (i.e., drift instabilities) [6]. Here we show that magnetic droplet solitons can be stabilized in a spin transfer nanocontact. Further, they exhibit a strong hysteretic response to fields and currents and a nearly fully reversed magnetization in the contact. These observations, in addition to their fundamental interest, open up new applications for magnetic droplet solitons as multi-state high frequency current and field tunable oscillators.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Non-Local Transport Mediated by Spin-Supercurrents

In thin film ferromagnets with perfect easy-plane anisotropy, the component of total spin perpendicular to the easy plane is a good quantum number and the corresponding spin supercurrent can flow without dissipation. In this Letter we explain how spin supercurrents couple spatially remote spin-mixing vertical transport channels, even when easy-plane anisotropy is imperfect, and discuss the possibility that this effect can be used to fabricate new types of electronic devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Organic Magnetoelectroluminescence for Room Temperature Transduction between Magnetic and Optical Information

Magnetic and spin-based technologies for data storage and processing pose unique challenges for information transduction to light because of magnetic metals' optical loss, and the inefficiency and resistivity of semiconductor spin-based emitters at room temperature. Transduction between magnetic and optical information in typical organic semiconductors poses additional challenges as the Faraday and Kerr magnetooptical effects rely on the electronic spin-orbit interaction, and the spin-orbit interaction in organics is weak. Other methods of coupling light and spin have emerged in organics, however, as the spin-dependent character of exciton recombination, with spin injection from magnetic electrodes, provides magnetization-sensitive light emission, although such approaches have been limited to low temperature and low polarization efficiency. Here we demonstrate room temperature information transduction between a magnet and an organic light emitting diode that does not require electrical current, based on control via the magnet's remanent field of the exciton recombination process in the organic semiconductor.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Determination of Intrinsic Magnetic Response from Local Measurements of Fringing Fields

Micron-sized Hall bars and micro-SQUIDs are now used routinely to measure the local static and dynamic magnetic response with micron-scale spatial resolution. While this provides a powerful new tool, determining the intrinsic magnetization presents new challenges, as it requires correcting for demagnetization fields that vary widely with position on a sample. In this paper we develop a method to correct for the demagnetization effect at local points of a rectangular prism shaped sample using a finite element analysis of Maxwell's equation applied to local Hall sensor measurements calibrated by bulk measurements of the magnetization. This method can be generalized to other geometric shapes to analyze data obtained with local magnetic probes.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Bimodal switching field distributions in all-perpendicular spin-valve nanopillars

Switching field measurements of the free layer element of 75 nm diameter spin-valve nanopillars reveal a bimodal distribution of switching fields at low temperatures (below 100 K). This result is inconsistent with a model of thermal activation over a single perpendicular anisotropy barrier. The correlation between antiparallel to parallel and parallel to antiparallel switching fields increases to nearly 50% at low temperatures. This reflects random fluctuation of the shift of the free layer hysteresis loop between two different magnitudes, which may originate from changes in the dipole field from the polarizing layer. The magnitude of the loop shift changes by 25% and is correlated to transitions of the spin-valve into an antiparallel configuration.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Spin wave excitation patterns generated by spin torque oscillators

Spin torque nano oscillators (STNO) are nano-scale devices that can convert a direct current into short wave-length spin-wave excitations in a ferromagnetic layer. We show that arrays of STNO can be used to create directional spin-wave radiation similar to electromagnetic antennas. Combining STNO excitations with planar spin waves also creates interference patterns. We show that these interference patterns are static and have information on the wavelength and phase of the spin waves emitted from the STNO.We describe means of actively controlling spin-wave radiation patterns with the direct current owing through STNO, which is useful in on-chip communication and information processing and could be a promising technique for studying short wave-length spin waves in different materials.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Thermally-Assisted Spin-Transfer Torque Dynamics in Energy Space

We consider the general Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert theory underlying the magnetization dynamics of a macrospin magnet subject to spin-torque effects and thermal fluctuations. Thermally activated dynamical properties are analyzed by averaging the full magnetization equations over constant- energy orbits. After averaging, all the relevant dynamical scenarios are a function of the ratio between hard and easy axis anisotropies. We derive analytically the range of currents for which limit cycles exist and discuss the regimes in which the constant energy orbit averaging technique is applicable.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗