arXiv subjects

Tenghua Gao

Publications and source records attributed to Tenghua Gao.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

Impact of inherent energy barrier on spin-orbit torques in magnetic-metal/semimetal heterojunctions

Spintronic devices are based on heterojunctions of two materials with different magnetic and electronic properties. Although an energy barrier is naturally formed even at the interface of metallic heterojunctions, its impact on spin transport has been overlooked. Here, using diffusive spin Hall currents, we provide evidence that the inherent energy barrier governs the spin transport even in metallic systems. We find a sizable field-like torque, much larger than the damping-like counterpart, in Ni$_{81}$Fe$_{19}$/Bi$_{0.1}$Sb$_{0.9}$ bilayers. This is a distinct signature of barrier-mediated spin-orbit torques, which is consistent with our theory that predicts a strong modification of the spin mixing conductance induced by the energy barrier. Our results suggest that the spin mixing conductance and the corresponding spin-orbit torques are strongly altered by minimizing the work function difference in the heterostructure. These findings provide a new mechanism to control spin transport and spin torque phenomena by interfacial engineering of metallic heterostructures.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Observation of long-range orbital transport and giant orbital torque

Modern spintronics relies on the generation of spin currents through spin-orbit coupling. The spin-current generation has been believed to be triggered by current-induced orbital dynamics, which governs the angular momentum transfer from the lattice to the electrons in solids. The fundamental role of the orbital response in the angular momentum dynamics suggests the importance of the orbital counterpart of spin currents: orbital currents. However, evidence for its existence has been elusive. Here, we demonstrate the generation of giant orbital currents and uncover fundamental features of the orbital response. We experimentally and theoretically show that orbital currents propagate over longer distances than spin currents by more than an order of magnitude in a ferromagnet and nonmagnets. Furthermore, we find that the orbital current enables electric manipulation of magnetization with efficiencies significantly higher than the spin counterpart. These findings open the door to orbitronics that exploits orbital transport and spin-orbital coupled dynamics in solid-state devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

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

Role of interfacial oxidation in generation of spin-orbit torques

We report that current-induced spin-orbit torques (SOTs) in heavy-metal/ferromagnetic-metal bilayers are strongly altered by the oxidation of the ferromagnetic layer near the interface. We measured damping-like (DL) and field-like (FL) SOTs for Pt/Co and Pt/Ni$_{81}$Fe$_{19}$ (Pt/Py) films using spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance. In the Pt/Co film, we found that the oxidation of the Co layer near the interface enhances both DL and FL SOTs in spite of the insulating nature of the CoO$_x$ layer. The enhancement of the SOTs disappears by inserting a thin Ti layer at the Pt/CoO$_x$ interface, indicating that the dominant source of the SOTs in the Pt/CoO$_x$/Co film is the spin-orbit coupling at the Pt/CoO$_x$ interface. In contrast to the Pt/CoO$_x$/Co film, the SOTs in the Pt/PyO$_x$/Py film are dominated by the bulk spin-orbit coupling. Our result shows that the interfacial oxidation of the Pt/Py film suppresses the DL-SOT and reverses the sign of the FL-SOT. The change of the SOTs can be attributed to the change of the real and imaginary parts of the spin mixing conductance induced by the insertion of the insulating PyO$_x$ layer. These results show that the interfacial oxidation provides an effective way to manipulate the strength and sign of the SOTs.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Current-induced torque originating from orbital current

The electrical manipulation of magnetization by current-induced spin torques has given access to realize a plethora of ultralow power and fast spintronic devices such as non-volatile magnetic memories, spin-torque nano-oscillators, and neuromorphic computing devices. Recent advances have led to the notion that relativistic spin-orbit coupling is an efficient source for current-induced torques, opening the field of spin-orbitronics. Despite the significant progress, however, the fundamental mechanism of magnetization manipulation, the requirement of spin currents in generating current-induced torques, has remained unchanged. Here, we demonstrate the generation of current-induced torques without the use of spin currents. By measuring the current-induced torque for naturally-oxidized-Cu/ferromagnetic-metal bilayers, we observed an exceptionally high effective spin Hall conductivity at low temperatures despite the absence of strong spin-orbit coupling. Furthermore, we found that the direction of the torque depends on the choice of the ferromagnetic layer, which counters the conventional understanding of the current-induced torque. These unconventional features are best interpreted in terms of an orbital counterpart of the spin torque, an orbital torque, which arises from the orbital Rashba effect and orbital current. These findings will shed light on the underlying physics of current-induced magnetization manipulation, potentially altering the landscape of spin-orbitronics.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Intrinsic spin-orbit torque arising from Berry curvature in metallic-magnet/Cu-oxide interface

We report the observation of the intrinsic damping-like spin-orbit torque (SOT) arising from the Berry curvature in metallic-magnet/CuO$_x$ heterostructures. We show that a robust damping-like SOT, an order of magnitude larger than a field-like SOT, is generated in the heterostructure despite the absence of the bulk spin-orbit effect in the CuO$_x$ layer. Furthermore, by tuning the interface oxidation level, we demonstrate that the field-like SOT changes drastically and even switches its sign, which originates from oxygen modulated spin-dependent disorder. These results provide an important information for fundamental understanding of the physics of the SOTs.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗