arXiv subjects

Gerrit E. W. Bauer

Publications and source records attributed to Gerrit E. W. Bauer.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

Angular and Linear Momentum of Excited Ferromagnets

The angular momentum vector of a Heisenberg ferromagnet with isotropic exchange interaction is conserved, while under uniaxial crystalline anisotropy the projection of the total spin along the easy axis is a constant of motion. Using Noether's theorem, we prove that these conservation laws persist in the presence of dipole-dipole interactions. However, spin and orbital angular momentum are not conserved separately. We also define the linear momentum of ferromagnetic textures. We illustrate the general principles with special reference to the spin transfer torques and identify the emergence of a non-adiabatic effective field acting on domain walls in ferromagnetic insulators.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Experimental test of the spin mixing interface conductivity concept

We perform a quantitative, comparative study of the spin pumping, spin Seebeck and spin Hall magnetoresistance effects, all detected via the inverse spin Hall effect in a series of over 20 yttrium iron garnet/Pt samples. Our experimental results fully support present, exclusively spin current-based, theoretical models using a single set of plausible parameters for spin mixing conductance, spin Hall angle and spin diffusion length. Our findings establish the purely spintronic nature of the aforementioned effects and provide a quantitative description in particular of the spin Seebeck effect.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2013

Spin Wave Excitation in Magnetic Insulator Thin Films by Spin-Transfer Torque

We describe excitation of dipole-exchange spin waves in insulating magnetic thin films by spin current injection at the surface of the film. An easy-axis magnetic surface anisotropy can induce a non-chiral surface spin wave mode with penetration depth inversely proportional to the strength of the surface anisotropy, which strongly reduces the critical current and enhances the excitation power. The importance of the interface spin wave modes on the excitation spectrum is reduced by spin pumping, which depends on the quality of the interface as expressed by the spin mixing conductance.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2013

Quantitative study of the spin Hall magnetoresistance in ferromagnetic insulator/normal metal hybrids

We experimentally investigate and quantitatively analyze the spin Hall magnetoresistance effect in ferromagnetic insulator/platinum and ferromagnetic insulator/nonferromagnetic metal/platinum hybrid structures. For the ferromagnetic insulator we use either yttrium iron garnet, nickel ferrite or magnetite and for the nonferromagnet copper or gold. The spin Hall magnetoresistance effect is theoretically ascribed to the combined action of spin Hall and inverse spin Hall effect in the platinum metal top layer. It therefore should characteristically depend upon the orientation of the magnetization in the adjacent ferromagnet, and prevail even if an additional, nonferromagnetic metal layer is inserted between Pt and the ferromagnet. Our experimental data corroborate these theoretical conjectures. Using the spin Hall magnetoresistance theory to analyze our data, we extract the spin Hall angle and the spin diffusion length in platinum. For a spin mixing conductance of $4\times10^{14}\;\mathrm{Ω^{-1}m^{-2}}$ we obtain a spin Hall angle of $0.11\pm0.08$ and a spin diffusion length of $(1.5\pm0.5)\;\mathrm{nm}$ for Pt in our thin film samples.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Aharonov-Casher effect in quantum ring ensembles

We study the transport of electrons through a single-mode quantum ring with electric field induced Rashba spin-orbit interaction that is subjected to an in-plane magnetic field and weakly coupled to electron reservoirs. Modelling a ring array by ensemble averaging over a Gaussian distribution of energy level positions, we predict slow conductance oscillations as a function of the Rashba interaction and electron density due to spin-orbit interaction-induced beating of the spacings between the levels crossed by the Fermi energy. Our results agree with experiments by Nitta c.s., thereby providing an interpretation that differs from the ordinary Aharonov-Casher effect in a single ring.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Spin torque transistor revisited

This paper reports on the improvement of the differential current gain in the spin-torque transistor based on two independent innovations, viz.the use of magnetic insulators and the spin Hall effect. Since, except for a few examples, spin transistors lack the current gain that is essential for many applications, spintronics and magnetic information technology lack an essential functionality compared to CMOS devices. Here, we show that negative differential resistance and large differential gain is possible in a large region of parameter space of the spin torque transistor. We also demonstrate that functionality is preserved when the control part is replaced by a normal metal film with a large spin Hall angle.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Theory of spin Hall magnetoresistance

We present a theory of the spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR) in multilayers made from an insulating ferromagnet F, such as yttrium iron garnet (YIG), and a normal metal N with spin-orbit interactions, such as platinum (Pt). The SMR is induced by the simultaneous action of spin Hall and inverse spin Hall effects and therefore a non-equilibrium proximity phenomenon. We compute the SMR in F$|$N and F$|$N$|$F layered systems, treating N by spin-diffusion theory with quantum mechanical boundary conditions at the interfaces in terms of the spin-mixing conductance. Our results explain the experimentally observed spin Hall magnetoresistance in N$|$F bilayers. For F$|$N$|$F spin valves we predict an enhanced SMR amplitude when magnetizations are collinear. The SMR and the spin-transfer torques in these trilayers can be controlled by the magnetic configuration.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Field-Free Synthetic-Ferromagnet Spin Torque Oscillator

We study the magnetization dynamics of spin valve structures with a free composite synthetic ferromagnet (SyF) that consists of two ferromagnetic layers coupled through a normal metal spacer. A ferromagnetically coupled SyF can be excited into dynamical precessional states by an applied current without external magnetic fields. We analytically determine the stability of these states in the space spanned by the current density and SyF interlayer exchange coupling. Numerical simulations confirm our analytical results.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

AC Voltage Generation by Spin Pumping and Inverse Spin Hall Effect

The polarization of the spin current pumped by a precessing ferromagnet into an adjacent normal metal has a constant component parallel to the precession axis and a rotating one normal to the magnetization. The former component is now routinely detected in the form of a DC voltage induced by the inverse spin Hall effect (ISHE). Here we compute AC-ISHE voltages much larger than the DC signals for various material combinations and discuss optimal conditions to observe the effect. Including the backflow of spins is essential for distilling parameters such as the spin Hall angle from ISHE-detected spin pumping experiments.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Domain wall heat conductance in ferromagnetic wires

We present a theoretical study of heat transport in electrically insulating ferromagnetic wires containing a domain wall. In the regime of validity of continuum micromagnetism a domain wall is found to have no effect on the heat conductance. However, spin waves are found to be reflected by domain walls with widths of a few lattice spacings, which is associated with emergence of an additional spin wave bound state. The resulting domain wall heat conductance should be significant for thin films of Yttrium Iron Garnet with sharply defined magnetic domains.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Spin Pumping and Spin Transfer

Spin pumping is the emission of a spin current by a magnetization dynamics while spin transfer stands for the excitation of magnetization by spin currents. Using Onsager's reciprocity relations we prove that spin pumping and spin-transfer torques are two fundamentally equivalent dynamic processes in magnetic structures with itinerant electrons. We review the theory of the coupled motion of the magnetization order parameter and electron for textured bulk ferromagnets (e.g. containing domain walls) and heterostructures (such as spin valves). We present first-principles calculations for the material-dependent damping parameters of magnetic alloys. Theoretical and experimental results agree in general well.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Spin wave excitation in magnetic insulators by spin-transfer torque

We study the excitation of spin waves in magnetic insulators by the current-induced spin-transfer torque. We predict preferential excitation of surface spin waves induced by an easy-axis surface anisotropy with critical current inversely proportional to the penetration depth and surface anisotropy. The surface modes strongly reduce the critical current and enhance the excitation power of the current-induced magnetization dynamics.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2011

Shot noise in magnetic tunnel junctions from first principles

We compute the shot noise in ballistic and disordered Fe/MgO/Fe tunnel junctions by a wave function-matching method. For tunnel barriers with no more than 5 atomic layers we find a suppression of the Fano factor as a function of the magnetic configuration. For thicker MgO barriers the shot noise is suppressed up to a threshold bias indicating the onset of resonant tunneling. We find excellent agreement with recent experiments when interface disorder is taken into account

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2011

Thermal spin-transfer in Fe-MgO-Fe tunnel junctions

We compute thermal spin transfer torques (TST) in Fe-MgO-Fe tunnel junctions using a first principles wave function-matching method. At room temperature, the TST in a junction with 3 MgO monolayers amounts to 10^-7J/m^2/K, which is estimated to cause magnetization reversal for temperature differences over the barrier of the order of 10 K. The large TST can be explained by multiple scattering between interface states through ultrathin barriers. The angular dependence of the TST can be very skewed, possibly leading to thermally induced high-frequency generation.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2011

Angular momentum transfer torques in spin valves with perpendicular magnetization

Spin valves incorporating perpendicularly magnetized materials are promising structures for memory elements and high-frequency generators. We report the angular dependence of the spin-transfer torque in spin valves with perpendicular equilibrium magnetization computed by first-principles circuit theory and compare results with experiments by W.H. Rippard c.s. [Phys. Rev. B 81, 014426 (2010)] on the CoFe|Cu|CoNi system. Furthermore, we predict a non-monotonous ("wavy") spin-transfer torque when the Cu spacer is replaced by a Ru layer.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Spin transfer torque on magnetic insulators

Recent experimental and theoretical studies focus on spin-mediated heat currents at interfaces between normal metals and magnetic insulators. We resolve conflicting estimates for the order of magnitude of the spin transfer torque by first-principles calculations. The spin mixing conductance G^\uparrow\downarrow of the interface between silver and the insulating ferrimagnet Yttrium Iron Garnet (YIG) is dominated by its real part and of the order of 10^14 Ω^-1m^-2, i.e. close to the value for intermetallic interface, which can be explained by a local spin model.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2011

Spin Caloritronics

This is a brief overview of the state of the art of spin caloritronics, the science and technology of controlling heat currents by the electron spin degree of freedom (and vice versa).

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

A unified first-principles study of Gilbert damping, spin-flip diffusion and resistivity in transition metal alloys

Using a formulation of first-principles scattering theory that includes disorder and spin-orbit coupling on an equal footing, we calculate the resistivity $ρ$, spin flip diffusion length $l_{sf}$ and the Gilbert damping parameter $α$ for Ni$_{1-x}$Fe$_x$ substitutional alloys as a function of $x$. For the technologically important Ni$_{80}$Fe$_{20}$ alloy, permalloy, we calculate values of $ρ= 3.5 \pm 0.15$ $μ$Ohm-cm, $l_{sf}=5.5 \pm 0.3$ nm, and $α= 0.0046 \pm 0.0001$ compared to experimental low-temperature values in the range $4.2-4.8$ $μ$Ohm-cm for $ρ$, $5.0-6.0$ nm for $l_{sf}$, and $0.004-0.013$ for $α$ indicating that the theoretical formalism captures the most important contributions to these parameters.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗