arXiv subjects

Farzad Mahfouzi

Publications and source records attributed to Farzad Mahfouzi.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Observation of current-induced orbital quadrupole accumulation

Spintronics and orbitronics rely on current-induced accumulations of magnetic dipoles: spin and orbital angular momentum. However, electronic orbitals inherently carry multipoles beyond the dipole, with the rank-2 orbital quadrupole as the leading term. Here we use polarization-resolved Kerr microscopy to observe current-induced orbital-quadrupole accumulation at the surfaces of Ti and Pt, metals with markedly different spin--orbit-coupling strengths. By separating the symmetric and antisymmetric components of the off-diagonal optical conductivity, we isolate the time-reversal-even quadrupolar response from the conventional time-reversal-odd magnetic-dipolar one, and find that the quadrupolar optical response exceeds the dipolar one in both metals. First-principles analysis of the measured responses indicates that the quadrupole accumulations are of the same order of magnitude in the two metals despite their widely different spin--orbit-coupling strengths, consistent with a previously unidentified channel of charge-to-orbital conversion that does not require spin--orbit coupling. Our findings establish that current-induced orbital polarization is fundamentally multipolar, expanding current-induced phenomena from the dipolar to the multipolar regime and opening a route to electrical control of orbital-ordered phases.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

Nonlocal Transport in Cr-doped (Bi,Sb)2Te3: Absence of Nonchiral Edge States

The quantum anomalous Hall effect shows great promise for realization of the ohm without the need for an external magnetic field. The most mature material platform is magnetically doped topological insulators. In these materials, precise quantization is limited to low temperatures, with the activation energy for dissipative transport typically in the range of 1 K. One potential source of dissipative transport is non-chiral edge states. These states are expected to be present in sufficiently thick samples. In this work, we perform extensive Hall and non-local resistance measurements in a Hall bar geometry at 2 K. By comparing 15 independent transport measurements to different transport models, we find that the system behavior is well-described by a simple continuum Ohm's law model. The addition of non-chiral edge states into the model does not significantly improve the fitting, and we conclude that there is not strong evidence for these states. We discuss the implications of our results for the prospect of high temperature quantized anomalous Hall effect in these materials.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Electric Field-Induced Kerr Rotation on Metallic Surfaces

We use a combination of density functional theory calculations and optical modeling to establish that the electric field-induced Kerr rotation in metallic thin films has contributions from both non-equilibrium orbital moment accumulation (arising from the orbital Edelstein effect) and a heretofore overlooked surface Pockels effect. The Kerr rotation associated with orbital accumulation has been studied in previous works and is largely due to the dc electric field-induced change of the electron distribution function. In contrast, the surface Pockels effect is largely due to the dc field-induced change to the wave functions. Both of these contributions arise from the dual mirror symmetry breaking from the surface and from the dc applied field. Our calculations show that the resulting Kerr rotation is due to the dc electric field modification of the optical conductivity within a couple of nanometers from the surface, consistent with the dependence on the local mirror symmetry breaking at the surface. For thin films of Pt, our calculations show that the relative contributions of the orbital Edelstein and surface Pockels effects are comparable, and that they have different effects on Kerr rotation of $s$ and $p$ polarized light, $θ_K^s$ and $θ_K^p$. The orbital Edelstein effect yields similar values of $θ_K^s$ and $θ_K^p$, while the surface Pockels effect leads to opposing values of $θ_K^s$ and $θ_K^p$.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Strain effects on the fluctuation properties in noncollinear antiferromagnets: a first-principles and macrospin-based study

We present a theoretical investigation of epitaxial strain effects on the magnetic fluctuation properties of Mn$_3$Sn noncollinear antiferromagnets. Employing density functional theory (DFT), we uncover significant strain-induced modifications to key magnetic parameters, including magnetic anisotropy and both bilinear and biquadratic exchange interactions. Our findings reveal that the biquadratic exchange, often neglected, plays a crucial role in defining the magnetic energy landscape and its response to strain. These microscopic changes directly impact the energy barriers governing magnetic switching, thereby influencing thermal stability and fluctuation rates. Using macrospin-based simulations based on DFT-derived parameters, we provide a quantitative analysis of the macroscopic magnetic fluctuations influenced by these microscopic interactions. These insights are particularly relevant for applications requiring precisely controlled magnetic behavior, such as hardware for probabilistic computing.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

Current-Induced Circular Dichroism on Metallic Surfaces: A First-Principles Study

We use {\it ab initio} calculations to understand the current-induced optical response and orbital moment accumulation at the surfaces of metallic films. These two quantities are related by a sum rule that equates the circular dichroic absorption integrated over frequency to the gauge-invariant self-rotation contribution to the orbital magnetization, $\vec{M}_{\rm SR}$. In typical ferromagnets, $\vec{M}_{\rm SR}$ is a good approximation to the total orbital magnetization. We compute the current-induced $\vec{M}_{\rm SR}$ for a Pt thin film and compare it to the current-induced orbital moment accumulation calculated with the atom-centered approximation (ACA). We find significant differences: the size of $\vec{M}_{\rm SR}$ is, in general, larger than the ACA orbital moment accumulation by an order of magnitude and includes substantial finite-size effects. The differences between the two quantities caution against interpreting optical measurements with models utilizing the ACA. Finally, we compute the total $\vec{M}_{\rm SR}$ and ACA orbital moment accumulation as a function of layer thickness. For both quantities, the length scale at which the total surface accumulation saturates is on the order of the mean free path and longer than the length scale of their spatial profiles.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Current manipulation of Giant tunneling altermagnetic resistance in collinear Antiferromagnetic RuO2/MgO/RuO2 sandwich structure

As an emerging non-volatile memory technology, magnetic random access memory (MRAM) has key features and advantages including non-volatility, high speed, endurance, low power consumption and radiation tolerance. Conventional MRAM utilizes magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs), which consist of two ferromagnetic layers separated by an insulating tunnel barrier. The orientation of the magnetic layers represents the binary data (0 or 1), and electrical resistance changes depending on the relative orientation of these magnetic layers. Despite these advancements, the quest for a swifter, more stable magneto-resistive random-access memory paradigm persists. In this vein, we present a groundbreaking development: room-temperature antiferromagnetic tunnel junctions devoid of any net magnetic moment. Over 200% tunneling altermagnetic resistance (TAR) ratio was measured at RuO2 (110)/MgO/RuO2 (110)/W structure, which is achieved by changing the antiferromagnetic Neel vector of RuO2 with an ultralow current density 2 MA*cm-2.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2023

All-antiferromagnetic electrically controlled memory on silicon featuring large tunneling magnetoresistance

Antiferromagnetic (AFM) materials are a pathway to spintronic memory and computing devices with unprecedented speed, energy efficiency, and bit density. Realizing this potential requires AFM devices with simultaneous electrical writing and reading of information, which are also compatible with established silicon-based manufacturing. Recent experiments have shown tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) readout in epitaxial AFM tunnel junctions. However, these TMR structures were not grown using a silicon-compatible deposition process, and controlling their AFM order required external magnetic fields. Here we show three-terminal AFM tunnel junctions based on the noncollinear antiferromagnet PtMn3, sputter-deposited on silicon. The devices simultaneously exhibit electrical switching using electric currents, and electrical readout by a large room-temperature TMR effect. First-principles calculations explain the TMR in terms of the momentum-resolved spin-dependent tunneling conduction in tunnel junctions with noncollinear AFM electrodes.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2023

Spin-flop magnetoresistance in a collinear antiferromagnetic tunnel junction

Collinear antiferromagnetic (AFM) materials have unique promise of no stray fields, display ultrafast dynamics, and being robust against perturbation filed which motivates the extensive research of antiferromagnetic spintronics. However, the manipulation and detection of antiferromagnetic order remain formidable challenges. Here, we report the electrical detection of colinear antiferromagnetism in all-epitaxial RuO2/MgO/RuO2 three-terminal tunnel junctions (TJ) using spin-flop tunnel anisotropy magnetoresistance (TAMR). We measured a TAMR ratio of around 60% at room temperature, which arises between the parallel and perpendicular configurations of the adjacent collinear AFM state. Furthermore, we carried out angular dependent measurements using this AFM-TJ and showed that the magnitude of anisotropic longitudinal magnetoresistance in the AFM-TJ can be controlled by the direction of magnetic field. We also theoretically found that the colinear antiferromagnetic MTJ may produce a substantially large TAMR ratio as a result of the time-reversal, strong spin orbit coupling (SOC) characteristic of antiferromagnetic RuO2. Our work not only propels antiferromagnetic materials to the forefront of spintronic device innovation but also unveils a novel paradigm for electrically governed antiferromagnetic spintronics, auguring transformative advancements in high-speed, low-energy information devices.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2022

Elasto-Dynamical Induced Spin and Charge Pumping in Bulk Heavy Metals

Analogous to the Spin-Hall Effect (SHE), {\it ab initio} electronic structure calculations reveal that acoustic phonons can induce charge (spin) current flowing along (normal to) its propagation direction. Using Floquet approach we have calculated the elastodynamical-induced charge and spin pumping in bulk Pt and demonstrate that: (i) While the longitudinal charge pumping is an intrinsic observable, the transverse pumped spin-current has an extrinsic origin that depends strongly on the electronic relaxation time; (ii) The longitudinal charge current is of nonrelativstic origin, while the transverse spin current is a relativistic effect that to lowest order scales linearly with the spin-orbit coupling strength; (iii) both charge and spin pumped currents have parabolic dependence on the amplitude of the elastic wave.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Spin transfer torque in Mn$_3$Ga-based ferrimagnetic tunnel junctions from first principles

We report on first-principles calculations of spin-transfer torque (STT) in epitaxial magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) based on ferrimagnetic tetragonal Mn$_3$Ga electrodes, both as analyzer in an Fe/MgO stack, and also in an analogous stack with a second Mn$_3$Ga electrode (instead of Fe) as polarizer. Solving the ballistic transport problem (NEGF + DFT) for the nonequilibrium spin density in a scattering region extended to over 7.6 nm into the Mn$_3$Ga electrode, we find long-range spatial oscillations of the STT decaying on a length scale of a few tens of angstroms, both in the linear response regime and for finite bias. The oscillatory behavior of the STT in Mn$_3$Ga is robust against variations in the stack geometry and the applied bias voltage, which may affect the phase and the amplitude of the spatial oscillation, but the wave number is only responsive to variations in the longitudinal lattice constant of Mn$_3$Ga (for fixed in-plane geometry) without being commensurate with the lattice. Our interpretation of the long-range STT oscillations is based on the bulk electronic structure of Mn$_3$Ga, taking also into account the spin-filtering properties of the MgO barrier. Comparison to a fully Mn$_3$Ga-based stack shows similar STT oscillations, but a significant enhancement of both the TMR effect at the Fermi level and the STT at the interface, due to resonant tunneling for the mirror-symmetric junction with thinner barrier (three monoatomic layers). From the calculated energy dependence of the spin-polarized transmissions at 0 V, we anticipate asymmetric or symmetric TMR as a function of the applied bias voltage for the Fe-based and the all-Mn$_3$Ga stacks, respectively, which also both exhibit a sign change below 1 V. In the latter (symmetric) case we expect a TMR peak at zero, which is larger for the thinner barriers because of a spin-polarized resonant tunneling contribution.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

First Principles Calculation of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction: A Green's function Approach

We present a Greens function approach to calculate the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions (DMI) from first principles electronic structure calculations, that is computationally more efficient and accurate than the most-commonly employed supercell and generalized Bloch-based approaches. The method is applied to the (111) Co/Pt bilayer where the Co- and/or Pt-thickness dependence of the DMI coefficients are calculated. Overall, the calculated DMI are in relatively good agreement with the corresponding values reported experimentally. Furthermore, we investigate the effect of strain in the DMI tensor elements and show that the isotropic Néel DMI can be significantly modulated by the normal strains, $ε_{xx},ε_{yy}$ and is relatively insensitive to the shear strain, $ε_{xy}$. Moreover, we show that anisotropic strains, $(ε_{xx}-ε_{yy})$ and $ε_{xy}$, result in the emergence of anisotropic Néel- and Bloch-type DMIs, respectively.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Magnetoelastic and Magnetostrictive Properties of Co$_2$XAl Heusler Compounds

We present a comprehensive first principles electronic structure study of the magnetoelastic and magnetostrictive properties in the Co-based Co$_2$XAl (X = V, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe) full Heusler compounds. In addition to the commonly used total energy approach, we employ torque method to calculate the magnetoelastic tensor elements. We show that the torque based methods are in general computationally more efficient, and allow to unveil the atomic- and orbital-contributions to the magnetoelastic constants in an exact manner, as opposed to the conventional approaches based on second order perturbation with respect to the spin-orbit coupling. The magnetostriction constants are in good agreement with available experimental data. The results reveal that the main contribution to the magnetostriction constants, $λ_{100}$ and $λ_{111}$, arises primarily from the strained-induced modulation of the $\langle d_{x^2-y^2}|\hat{L}_z|d_{xy}\rangle$ and $\langle d_{z^2}|\hat{L}_x|d_{yz}\rangle$ spin orbit coupling matrix elements, respectively, of the Co atoms.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Microscopic Origin of Spin-Orbit Torque in Ferromagnetic Heterostructures: A First Principles Approach

We present an {\it ab initio}-based theoretical framework which elucidates the origin of the spin-orbit torque (SOT) in Normal-Metal(NM)/Ferromagnet(FM) heterostructures. The SOT is decomposed into two contributions, namely, {\it spin-Hall} and the {\it spin-orbital} components. We find that {\it (i)} the Field-Like (FL) SOT is dominated by the spin-orbital component and {\it (ii)} both components contribute to the damping-like torque with comparable magnitude in the limit of thick Pt film. The contribution of the spin-orbital component to the DL-SOT is present only for NMs with strong SOC coupling strength. We demonstrate that the FL-SOT can be expressed in terms of the non-equilibrium spin-resolved orbital moment accumulation. The calculations reveal that the experimentally reported oxygen-induced sign-reversal of the FL-SOT in Pt/Co bilayers is due to the significant reduction of the majority-spin orbital moment accumulation on the interfacial NM atoms.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Damping and Anti-Damping Phenomena in Metallic Antiferromagnets: An ab-initio Study

We report on a first principles study of anti-ferromagnetic resonance (AFMR) phenomena in metallic systems [MnX (X=Ir,Pt,Pd,Rh) and FeRh] under an external electric field. We demonstrate that the AFMR linewidth can be separated into a relativistic component originating from the angular momentum transfer between the collinear AFM subsystem and the crystal through the spin orbit coupling (SOC), and an exchange component that originates from the spin exchange between the two sublattices. The calculations reveal that the latter component becomes significant in the low temperature regime. Furthermore, we present results for the current-induced intersublattice torque which can be separated into the Field-Like (FL) and Damping-Like (DL) components, affecting the intersublattice exchange coupling and AFMR linewidth, respectively.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

First Principles Study of Angular Dependence of Spin-Orbit Torque in Pt/Co and Pd/Co Bilayers

Spin-orbit torque (SOT) induced by spin Hall and interfacial effects in heavy metal(HM)/ferromagnetic(FM) bilayers has recently been employed to switch the magnetization direction using in-plane current injection. In this paper, using the Keldysh Green's function approach and first principles electronic structure calculations we determine the Field-Like (FL) and Damping-Like (DL) components of the SOT for the HM/Co (HM = Pt, Pd) bilayers. Our approach yields the angular dependence of both the FL- and DL-SOT on the magnetization direction without assuming a priori their angular form. Decomposition of the SOT into the Fermi sea and Fermi surface contributions reveals that the SOT is dominated by the latter. Due to the large lattice mismatch between the Co and the HM we have also determined the effect of tensile biaxial strain on both the FL- and DL-SOT components. The calculated dependence of FL- and DL-SOT on the HM thickness is overall in good agreement with experiment. The dependence of the SOT with the position of the Fermi level suggests that the DL-SOT dominated by the Spin Hall effect of the bulk HM.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Intrinsic Damping Phenomena from Quantum to Classical Magnets:An ab-initio Study of Gilbert Damping in Pt/Co Bilayer

A fully quantum mechanical description of the precessional damping of Pt/Co bilayer is presented in the framework of the Keldysh Green function approach using {\it ab initio} electronic structure calculations. In contrast to previous calculations of classical Gilbert damping ($α_{GD}$), we demonstrate that $α_{GD}$ in the quantum case does not diverge in the ballistic regime due to the finite size of the total spin, $S$. In the limit of $S\rightarrow\infty$ we show that the formalism recovers the torque correlation expression for $α_{GD}$ which we decompose into spin-pumping and spin-orbital torque correlation contributions. The formalism is generalized to take into account a self consistently determined dephasing mechanism which preserves the conservation laws and allows the investigation of the effect of disorder. The dependence of $α_{GD}$ on Pt thickness and disorder strength is calculated and the spin diffusion length of Pt and spin mixing conductance of the bilayer are determined and compared with experiments.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Current Induced Damping of Nanosized Quantum Moments in the Presence of Spin-Orbit Interaction

Motivated by the need to understand current-induced magnetization dynamics at the nanoscale, we have developed a formalism, within the framework of Keldysh Green function approach, to study the current-induced dynamics of a ferromagnetic (FM) nanoisland overlayer on a spin-orbit-coupling (SOC) Rashba plane. In contrast to the commonly employed classical micromagnetic LLG simulations the magnetic moments of the FM are treated {\it quantum mechanically}. We obtain the density matrix of the whole system consisting of conduction electrons entangled with the local magnetic moments and calculate the effective damping rate of the FM. We investigate two opposite limiting regimes of FM dynamics: (1) The precessional regime where the magnetic anisotropy energy (MAE) and precessional frequency are smaller than the exchange interactions, and (2) The local spin-flip regime where the MAE and precessional frequency are comparable to the exchange interactions. In the former case, we show that due to the finite size of the FM domain, the \textquotedblleft Gilbert damping\textquotedblright does not diverge in the ballistic electron transport regime, in sharp contrast to Kambersky's breathing Fermi surface theory for damping in metallic FMs. In the latter case, we show that above a critical bias the excited conduction electrons can switch the local spin moments resulting in demagnetization and reversal of the magnetization. Furthermore, our calculations show that the bias-induced antidamping efficiency in the local spin-flip regime is much higher than that in the rotational excitation regime.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Ferromagnetic Damping/Anti-damping in a Periodic 2D Helical surface; A Non-Equilibrium Keldysh Green Function Approach

In this paper, we investigate theoretically the spin-orbit torque as well as the Gilbert damping for a two band model of a 2D helical surface state with a Ferromagnetic (FM) exchange coupling. We decompose the density matrix into the Fermi sea and Fermi surface components and obtain their contributions to the electronic transport as well as the spin-orbit torque (SOT). Furthermore, we obtain the expression for the Gilbert damping due to the surface state of a 3D Topological Insulator (TI) and predicted its dependence on the direction of the magnetization precession axis.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗