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Dongwook Go

Publications and source records attributed to Dongwook Go.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
arXiv2022

Hidden interplay of current-induced spin and orbital torques in bulk Fe$_3$GeTe$_2$

Low crystal symmetry of magnetic van der Waals materials naturally promotes spin-orbital complexity unachievable in common magnetic materials used for spin-orbit torque switching. Here, using first-principles methods, we demonstrate that an interplay of spin and orbital degrees of freedom has a profound impact on spin-orbit torques in a prototype van der Waals ferromagnet: Fe$_3$GeTe$_2$ (FGT). While we show that bulk FGT hosts strong "hidden" current-induced torques harvested by each of its layers, we uncover that their origin alternates between the conventional spin flux torque and the so-called orbital torque as the magnetization direction is varied. A drastic difference in the behavior of the two types of torques results in a non-trivial evolution of switching properties with doping. Our findings promote the design of non-equilibrium orbital properties as the guiding mechanism for crafting the properties of spin-orbit torques in layered van der Waals materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗
arXiv2022

Long-Range Orbital Magnetoelectric Torque in Ferromagnets

While it is often assumed that the orbital response is suppressed and short-ranged due to strong crystal field potential and orbital quenching, we show that the orbital magnetoelectric response can be remarkably long-ranged in ferromagnets. In a bilayer consisting of a nonmagnet and a ferromagnet, spin injection from the interface results in spin accumulation and torque in the ferromagnet, which rapidly oscillate and decay by spin dephasing. In contrast, we find that even when an external electric field is applied only on the nonmagnet, we find substantially long-ranged orbital magnetoelectric response in the FM, which can go far beyond the spin dephasing length. This unusual feature is attributed to nearly degenerate orbital characters imposed by the crystal symmetry, which form hotspots for the intrinsic orbital response. Because only the states near the hotspots contribute dominantly, the induced orbital angular momentum does not exhibit destructive interference among states with different momentum as in the case of the spin dephasing. This gives rise to a distinct type of orbital torque on the magnetization, increasing with the thickness of the ferromagnet. Such behavior may serve as critical long-sought evidence of orbital transport to be directly tested in experiments. Our findings open the possibility of using long-range orbital magnetoelectric effect in orbitronic device applications.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗
arXiv2022

Efficient conversion of orbital Hall current to spin current for spin-orbit torque switching

Spin Hall effect, an electric generation of spin current, allows for efficient control of magnetization. Recent theory revealed that orbital Hall effect creates orbital current, which can be much larger than spin Hall-induced spin current. However, orbital current cannot directly exert a torque on a ferromagnet, requiring a conversion process from orbital current to spin current. Here, we report two effective methods of the conversion through spin-orbit coupling engineering, which allows us to unambiguously demonstrate orbital-current-induced spin torque, or orbital Hall torque. We find that orbital Hall torque is greatly enhanced by introducing either a rare-earth ferromagnet Gd or a Pt interfacial layer with strong spin-orbit coupling in Cr/ferromagnet structures, indicating that the orbital current generated in Cr is efficiently converted into spin current in the Gd or Pt layer. Furthermore, we show that the orbital Hall torque can facilitate the reduction of switching current of perpendicular magnetization in spin-orbit-torque-based spintronic devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗
arXiv2022

Engineering spin-orbit effects and Berry curvature by deposition of Eu on WSe$_{2}$

Motivated by recent progress in 2D spintronics, we present Eu deposited on a 1H-WSe$_2$ as a promising platform for engineering spin-orbit effects and Berry curvature. By first-principles calculations based on density functional theory, we show that Eu/WSe$_2$ exhibits intriguing properties such as high magnetic anisotropy, valley-dependent polarization of spin and orbital angular momenta, and their Rashba textures. These originate from magnetic and spin-orbit proximity effects at the interface and the interplay between localized $4f$ magnetic moments of Eu and mobile charge carriers of WSe$_2$. We find a pronounced anomalous Hall effect in the proposed system. Thus, we promote $4f$ rare-earth metals deposited on top of a transition-metal dichalcogenides as a promising platform for 2D spintronics.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗
arXiv2022

Magnetic domain walls of the van der Waals material Fe$_3$GeTe$_2$

Among two-dimensional materials, Fe$_3$GeTe$_2$ has come to occupy a very important place owing to its ferromagnetic nature with one of the highest Curie temperatures among known van der Waals materials and the potential for hosting skyrmions. In this combined experimental and theoretical work, we investigate the magnetic bubble domains as well as the microscopic domain wall profile using spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy in combination with atomistic spin-dynamics simulations performed with parameters from density functional theory calculations. We find a weak magneto-electric effect influencing the domain wall width by the electric field in the tunneling junction and determine the critical magnetic field for the collapse of the bubble domains. Our findings shed light on the origins of complex magnetism that Fe$_3$GeTe$_2$ exhibits.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗
arXiv2022

Non-Collinear Spin Current for Switching of Chiral Magnetic Textures

We propose a concept of non-collinear spin current, whose spin polarization varies in space even in non-magnetic crystals. While it is commonly assumed that the spin polarization of the spin Hall current is uniform, asymmetric local crystal potential generally allows the spin polarization to be non-collinear in space. Based on microscopic considerations we demonstrate that such non-collinear spin Hall currents can be observed for example in layered Kagome Mn$_3$X (X = Ge, Sn) compounds. Moreover, by referring to atomistic spin dynamics simulations we show that non-collinear spin currents can be used to switch the chiral spin texture of Mn$_3$X in a deterministic way even in the absence of an external magnetic field. Our theoretical prediction can be readily tested in experiments, which will open a novel route toward electric control of complex spin structures in non-collinear antiferromagnets.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗
arXiv2022

Tuning spin-orbit torques across the phase transition in VO$_2$/NiFe heterostructure

The emergence of spin-orbit torques as a promising approach to energy-efficient magnetic switching has generated large interest in material systems with easily and fully tunable spin-orbit torques. Here, current-induced spin-orbit torques in VO$_2$/NiFe heterostructures were investigated using spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance, where the VO$_2$ layer undergoes a prominent insulator-metal transition. A roughly two-fold increase in the Gilbert damping parameter, $α$, with temperature was attributed to the change in the VO$_2$/NiFe interface spin absorption across the VO$_2$ phase transition. More remarkably, a large modulation ($\pm$100%) and a sign change of the current-induced spin-orbit torque across the VO$_2$ phase transition suggest two competing spin-orbit torque generating mechanisms. The bulk spin Hall effect in metallic VO$_2$, corroborated by our first-principles calculation of spin Hall conductivity, $σ_{SH} \approx 10^4 \frac{\hbar}{e} Ω^{-1} m^{-1}$, is verified as the main source of the spin-orbit torque in the metallic phase. The self-induced/anomalous torque in NiFe, of the opposite sign and a similar magnitude to the bulk spin Hall effect in metallic VO$_2$, could be the other competing mechanism that dominates as temperature decreases. For applications, the strong tunability of the torque strength and direction opens a new route to tailor spin-orbit torques of materials which undergo phase transitions for new device functionalities.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗
arXiv2022

Spin and orbital transport in rare earth dichalcogenides: The case of EuS$_2$

We perform first-principles calculations to determine the electronic, magnetic and transport properties of rare-earth dichalcogenides taking a monolayer of the H-phase EuS$_2$ as a representative. We predict that the H-phase of the EuS$_2$ monolayer exhibits a half-metallic behavior upon doping with a very high magnetic moment. We find that the electronic structure of EuS$_2$ is very sensitive to the value of Coulomb repulsion $U$, which effectively controls the degree of hybridization between Eu-$f$ and S-$p$ states. We further predict that the non-trivial electronic structure of EuS$_2$ directly results in a pronounced anomalous Hall effect with non-trivial band topology. Moreover, while we find that the spin Hall effect closely follows the anomalous Hall effect in the system, the orbital complexity of the system results in a very large orbital Hall effect, whose properties depend very sensitively on the strength of correlations. Our findings thus promote rare-earth based dichalcogenides as a promising platform for topological spintronics and orbitronics.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗
arXiv2021

Observation of the orbital Hall effect in a light metal Ti

The orbital angular momentum is a core ingredient of orbital magnetism, spin Hall effect, giant Rashba spin splitting, orbital Edelstein effect, and spin-orbit torque. However, its experimental detection is tricky. In particular, direct detection of the orbital Hall effect remains elusive despite its importance for electrical control of magnetic nanodevices. Here we report the direct observation of the orbital Hall effect in a light metal Ti. The Kerr rotation by the accumulated orbital magnetic moment is measured at Ti surfaces, whose result agrees with theoretical calculations semiquantitatively and is supported by the orbital torque measurement in Ti-based magnetic heterostructures. The results confirm the electron orbital angular momentum as an essential dynamic degree of freedom, which may provide a novel mechanism for the electric control of magnetism. The results may also deepen the understanding of spin, valley, phonon, and magnon dynamics coupled with orbital dynamics.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗
arXiv2021

Strong bulk spin-orbit torques quantified in the van der Waals ferromagnet Fe3GeTe2

The recent emergence of magnetic van der Waals materials allows for the investigation of current induced magnetization manipulation in two dimensional materials. Uniquely, Fe3GeTe2 has a crystalline structure that allows for the presence of bulk spin-orbit torques (SOTs), that we quantify in a Fe3GeTe2 flake. From the symmetry of the measured torques, we identify the current induced effective fields using harmonic analysis and find dominant bulk SOTs, which arise from the symmetry in the crystal structure. Our results show that Fe3GeTe2 uniquely can exhibit bulk SOTs in addition to the conventional interfacial SOTs enabling magnetization manipulation even in thick single layers without the need for complex multilayer engineering.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗
arXiv2021

Orbitronics: Orbital Currents in Solids

In solids, electronic Bloch states are formed by atomic orbitals. While it is natural to expect that orbital composition and information about Bloch states can be manipulated and transported, in analogy to the spin degree of freedom extensively studied in past decades, it has been assumed that orbital quenching by the crystal field prevents significant dynamics of orbital degrees of freedom. However, recent studies reveal that an orbital current, given by the flow of electrons with a finite orbital angular momentum, can be electrically generated and transported in wide classes of materials despite the effect of orbital quenching in the ground state. Orbital currents also play a fundamental role in the mechanisms of other transport phenomena such as spin Hall effect and valley Hall effect. Most importantly, it has been proposed that orbital currents can be used to induce magnetization dynamics, which is one of the most pivotal and explored aspects of magnetism. Here, we give an overview of recent progress and the current status of research on orbital currents. We review proposed physical mechanisms for generating orbital currents and discuss candidate materials where orbital currents are manifest. We review recent experiments on orbital current generation and transport and discuss various experimental methods to quantify this elusive object at the heart of $orbitronics$ $-$ an area which exploits the orbital degree of freedom as an information carrier in solid-state devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗
arXiv2021

Observation of the Orbital Rashba-Edelstein Magnetoresistance

We report the observation of magnetoresistance (MR) originating from the orbital angular momentum transport (OAM) in a Permalloy (Py) / oxidized Cu (Cu*) heterostructure: the orbital Rashba-Edelstein magnetoresistance. The angular dependence of the MR depends on the relative angle between the induced OAM and the magnetization in a similar fashion as the spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR). Despite the absence of elements with large spin-orbit coupling, we find a sizable MR ratio, which is in contrast to the conventional SMR which requires heavy elements. By varying the thickness of the Cu* layer, we confirm that the interface is responsible for the MR, suggesting that the orbital Rashba-Edelstein effect is responsible for the generation of the OAM. Through Py thickness-dependence studies, we find that the effective values for the spin diffusion and spin dephasing lengths of Py are significantly larger than the values measured in Py / Pt bilayers, approximately by the factor of 2 and 4, respectively. This implies that another mechanism beyond the conventional spin-based scenario is responsible for the MR observed in Py / Cu* structures originated in a sizeable transport of OAM. Our findings not only unambiguously demonstrate the current-induced torque without using any heavy element via the OAM channel but also provide an important clue towards the microscopic understanding of the role that OAM transport can play for magnetization dynamics.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗
arXiv2020

The interplay of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya and Kitaev interactions for magnonic properties of Heisenberg-Kitaev honeycomb ferromagnets

The properties of Kitaev materials are attracting ever increasing attention owing to their exotic properties. In realistic two-dimensional materials, Kitaev interaction is often accompanied by the Dzyloshinskii-Moriya interaction, which poses a challenge of distinguishing their magnitude separately. In this work, we demonstrate that it can be done by accessing magnonic transport properties. By studying honeycomb ferromagnets exhibiting Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya and Kitaev interactions simultaneously, we reveal non-trivial magnonic topological properties accompanied by intricate magnonic transport characteristics as given by thermal Hall and magnon Nernst effects. We also investigate the effect of a magnetic field, showing that it does not only break the symmetry of the system but also brings drastic modifications to magnonic topological transport properties, which serve as hallmarks of the relative strength of anisotropic exchange interactions. Based on our findings, we suggest strategies to estimate the importance of Kitaev interactions in real materials.

cond-mat.str-el↗
arXiv2020

Imprinting and driving electronic orbital magnetism using magnons

Magnons, as the most elementary excitations of magnetic materials, have recently emerged as a prominent tool in electrical and thermal manipulation and transport of spin, and magnonics as a field is considered as one of the pillars of modern spintronics. On the other hand, orbitronics, which exploits the orbital degree of freedom of electrons rather than their spin, emerges as a powerful platform in efficient design of currents and redistribution of angular momentum in structurally complex materials. Here, we uncover a way to bridge the worlds of magnonics and electronic orbital magnetism, which originates in the fundamental coupling of scalar spin chirality, inherent to magnons, to the orbital degree of freedom in solids. We show that this can result in efficient generation and transport of electronic orbital angular momentum by magnons, thus opening the road to combining the functionalities of magnonics and orbitronics to their mutual benefit in the realm of spintronics applications.

cond-mat.str-el↗
arXiv2020

Orbital Rashba effect in surface oxidized Cu film

Recent experimental observation of unexpectedly large current-induced spin-orbit torque in surface oxidized Cu on top of a ferromagnet suggested a possible role of the orbital Rashba effect (ORE). With this motivation, we investigate the ORE from first principles by considering an oxygen monolayer on top of a Cu(111) film. We show that surface oxidization of Cu film leads to gigantic enhancement of the ORE for states near the Fermi surface. The resulting chiral orbital texture in the momentum space is exceptionally strong, reaching $\sim 0.5\hbar$ in magnitude. We find that resonant hybridization between O $p$-states and Cu $d$-states is responsible for the emergence of the ORE. We demonstrate that application of an external electric field generates huge orbital Hall current, which is an order of magnitude larger than the spin Hall current found in heavy metals. This implies that "orbital torque" mechanism may be significant in surface oxidized Cu/ferromagnet structures. It also encourages experimental verification of the orbital texture in surface oxidized Cu through optical measurements such as angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗
arXiv2020

Theory of Current-Induced Angular Momentum Transfer Dynamics in Spin-Orbit Coupled Systems

Motivated by the importance of understanding competing mechanisms to current-induced spin-orbit torque in complex magnets, we develop a unified theory of current-induced spin-orbital coupled dynamics. The theory describes angular momentum transfer between different degrees of freedom in solids, e.g., the electron orbital and spin, the crystal lattice, and the magnetic order parameter. Based on the continuity equations for the spin and orbital angular momenta, we derive equations of motion that relate spin and orbital current fluxes and torques describing the transfer of angular momentum between different degrees of freedom. We then propose a classification scheme for the mechanisms of the current-induced torque in magnetic bilayers. Based on our first-principles implementation, we apply our formalism to two different magnetic bilayers, Fe/W(110) and Ni/W(110), which are chosen such that the orbital and spin Hall effects in W have opposite sign and the resulting spin- and orbital-mediated torques can compete with each other. We find that while the spin torque arising from the spin Hall effect of W is the dominant mechanism of the current-induced torque in Fe/W(110), the dominant mechanism in Ni/W(110) is the orbital torque originating in the orbital Hall effect of W. It leads to negative and positive effective spin Hall angles, respectively, which can be directly identified in experiments. This clearly demonstrates that our formalism is ideal for studying the angular momentum transfer dynamics in spin-orbit coupled systems as it goes beyond the "spin current picture" by naturally incorporating the spin and orbital degrees of freedom on an equal footing. Our calculations reveal that, in addition to the spin and orbital torque, other contributions such as the interfacial torque and self-induced anomalous torque within the ferromagnet are not negligible in both material systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗
arXiv2020

Non-trivial charge-to-spin conversion in ferromagnetic metal/Cu/Al2O3 by orbital transport

Efficient spin/charge interconversion is desired to develop innovative spin-based devices. So far, the interconversion has been performed by using heavy atomic elements, strong spin-orbit interaction of which realizes the interconversion through the spin Hall effect and the Edelstein effect. We demonstrate highly efficient charge-to-spin conversion in a ferromagnetic metal/Cu/Al2O3 trilayers, which do not contain any heavy element. The resulting spin torque efficiency is higher than those of conventional spin Hall and Rashba systems consisting of heavy elements such as Pt and Bi. Our experimental results qualitatively deviate from typical behaviors arising from spin transport. However, they are surprisingly consistent with the behaviors arising from the orbital transport. Our results thus demonstrate a new direction for efficient charge-to-spin conversion through the orbital transport.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗