arXiv subjects

Xiufeng Han

Publications and source records attributed to Xiufeng Han.

47 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Three-dimensional dynamics of magnetic hopfion driven by spin transfer torque

Magnetic hopfion is three-dimensional (3D) topological soliton with novel spin structure that would enable exotic dynamics. Here we study the current driven 3D dynamics of a magnetic hopfion with unit Hopf index in a frustrated magnet. Attributed to spin Berry phase and symmetry of the hopfion, the phase space entangles multiple collective coordinates, thus the hopfion exhibits rich dynamics including longitudinal motion along the current direction, transverse motion perpendicular to the current direction, rotational motion and dilation. Furthermore, the characteristics of hopfion dynamics is determined by the ratio between the non-adiabatic spin transfer torque parameter and the damping parameter. Such peculiar 3D dynamics of magnetic hopfion could shed light on understanding the universal physics of hopfions in different systems and boost the prosperous development of 3D spintronics.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Chiral spin-wave velocities induced by all-garnet interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in ultrathin yttrium iron garnet films

Spin waves can probe the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) which gives rise to topological spin textures, such as skyrmions. However, the DMI has not yet been reported in yttrium iron garnet (YIG) with arguably the lowest damping for spin waves. In this work, we experimentally evidence the interfacial DMI in a 7~nm-thick YIG film by measuring the nonreciprocal spin wave propagation in terms of frequency, amplitude and most importantly group velocities using all electrical spin-wave spectroscopy. The velocities of propagating spin waves show chirality among three vectors, i.e. the film normal direction, applied field and spin-wave wavevector. By measuring the asymmetric group velocities, we extract a DMI constant of 16~$μ$J/m$^{2}$ which we independently confirm by Brillouin light scattering. Thickness-dependent measurements reveal that the DMI originates from the oxide interface between the YIG and garnet substrate. The interfacial DMI discovered in the ultrathin YIG films is of key importance for functional chiral magnonics as ultra-low spin-wave damping can be achieved.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Room temperature 2D ferromagnetism in few-layered 1$T$-CrTe$_{2}$

Spin-related electronics using two dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) materials as a platform are believed to hold great promise for revolutionizing the next generation spintronics. Although many emerging new phenomena have been unravelled in 2D electronic systems with spin long-range orderings, the scarcely reported room temperature magnetic vdW material has thus far hindered the related applications. Here, we show that intrinsic ferromagnetically aligned spin polarization can hold up to 316 K in a metallic phase of 1$T$-CrTe$_{2}$ in the few-layer limit. This room temperature 2D long range spin interaction may be beneficial from an itinerant enhancement. Spin transport measurements indicate an in-plane room temperature negative anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) in few-layered CrTe$_{2}$, but a sign change in the AMR at lower temperature, with -0.6$\%$ at 300 K and +5$\%$ at 10 K, respectively. This behavior may originate from the specific spin polarized band structure of CrTe$_{2}$. Our findings provide insights into magnetism in few-layered CrTe$_{2}$, suggesting potential for future room temperature spintronic applications of such 2D vdW magnets.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Current-driven magnetization switching in a van der Waals ferromagnet Fe3GeTe2

The recent discovery of ferromagnetism in two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) materials holds promises for novel spintronic devices with exceptional performances. However, in order to utilize 2D vdW magnets for building spintronic nanodevices such as magnetic memories, key challenges remain in terms of effectively switching the magnetization from one state to the other electrically. Here, we devise a bilayer structure of Fe3GeTe2/Pt, in which the magnetization of few-layered Fe3GeTe2 can be effectively switched by the spin-orbit torques (SOTs) originated from the current flowing in the Pt layer. The effective magnetic fields corresponding to the SOTs are further quantitatively characterized using harmonic measurements. Our demonstration of the SOT-driven magnetization switching in a 2D vdW magnet could pave the way for implementing low-dimensional materials in the next-generation spintronic applications.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Electrical switching of perpendicular magnetization in L10 FePt single layer

Electrical manipulation of magnetization is essential for integration of magnetic functionalities such as magnetic memories and magnetic logic devices into electronic circuits. The current induced spin-orbit torque (SOT) in heavy metal/ferromagnet (HM/FM) bilayers via the spin Hall effect in the HM and/or the Rashba effect at the interfaces provides an efficient way to switch the magnetization. In the meantime, current induced SOT has also been used to switch the in-plane magnetization in single layers such as ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As and antiferromagnetic metal CuMnAs with globally or locally broken inversion symmetry. Here we demonstrate the current induced perpendicular magnetization switching in L10 FePt single layer. The current induced spin-orbit effective fields in L10 FePt increase with the chemical ordering parameter (S). In 20 nm FePt films with high S, we observe a large charge-to-spin conversion efficiency and a switching current density as low as 7.0E6 A/cm2. We anticipate our findings may stimulate the exploration of the spin-orbit torques in bulk perpendicular magnetic anisotropic materials and the application of high-efficient perpendicular magnetization switching in single FM layer.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Role of dimensional crossover on spin-orbit torque efficiency in magnetic insulator thin films

Magnetic insulators (MIs) attract tremendous interest for spintronic applications due to low Gilbert damping and absence of Ohmic loss. Magnetic order of MIs can be manipulated and even switched by spin-orbit torques (SOTs) generated through spin Hall effect and Rashba-Edelstein effect in heavy metal/MI bilayers. SOTs on MIs are more intriguing than magnetic metals since SOTs cannot be transferred to MIs through direct injection of electron spins. Understanding of SOTs on MIs remains elusive, especially how SOTs scale with the film thickness. Here, we observe the critical role of dimensionality on the SOT efficiency by systematically studying the MI layer thickness dependent SOT efficiency in tungsten/thulium iron garnet (W/TmIG) bilayers. We first show that the TmIG thin film evolves from two-dimensional to three-dimensional magnetic phase transitions as the thickness increases, due to the suppression of long-wavelength thermal fluctuation. Then, we report the significant enhancement of the measured SOT efficiency as the thickness increases. We attribute this effect to the increase of the magnetic moment density in concert with the suppression of thermal fluctuations. At last, we demonstrate the current-induced SOT switching in the W/TmIG bilayers with a TmIG thickness up to 15 nm. The switching current density is comparable with those of heavy metal/ferromagnetic metal cases. Our findings shed light on the understanding of SOTs in MIs, which is important for the future development of ultrathin MI-based low-power spintronics.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Separation of inverse spin Hall effect and anomalous Nernst effect in ferromagnetic metals

Inverse spin Hall effect (ISHE) in ferromagnetic metals (FM) can also be used to detect the spin current generated by longitudinal spin Seebeck effect in a ferromagnetic insulator YIG. However, anomalous Nernst effect(ANE) in FM itself always mixes in the thermal voltage. In this work, the exchange bias structure (NiFe/IrMn)is employed to separate these two effects. The exchange bias structure provides a shift field to NiFe, which can separate the magnetization of NiFe from that of YIG in M-H loops. As a result, the ISHE related to magnetization of YIG and the ANE related to the magnetization of NiFe can be separated as well. By comparison with Pt, a relative spin Hall angle of NiFe (0.87) is obtained, which results from the partially filled 3d orbits and the ferromagnetic order. This work puts forward a practical method to use the ISHE in ferromagnetic metals towards future spintronic applications.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Magnetic fingerprint of interfacial coupling between CoFe and nanoscale ferroelectric domain walls

Magnetoelectric coupling in ferromagnet/multiferroic systems is often manifested in the exchange bias effect, which may have combined contributions from multiple sources, such as domain walls, chemical defects or strain. In this study we magnetically "fingerprint" the coupling behavior of CoFe grown on epitaxial BiFeO3 (BFO) thin films by magnetometry and first-order-reversal-curves (FORC). The contribution to exchange bias from 71°, 109° and charged ferroelectric domain walls (DWs) was elucidated by the FORC distribution. CoFe samples grown on BFO with 71° DWs only exhibit an enhancement of the coercivity, but little exchange bias. Samples grown on BFO with 109° DWs and mosaic DWs exhibit a much larger exchange bias, with the main enhancement attributed to 109° and charged DWs. Based on the Malozemoff random field model, a varying-anisotropy model is proposed to account for the exchange bias enhancement. This work sheds light on the relationship between the exchange bias effect of the CoFe/BFO heterointerface and the ferroelectric DWs, and provides a path for multiferroic device analysis and design.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2011

Influence of Intrinsic Electronic Properties on Light Transmission through Subwavelength Holes on Gold and MgB2 Thin Films

We show how intrinsic material properties modify light transmission through subwavelength hole arrays on thin metallic films in the THz regime. We compare the temperature-dependent transmittance of Au films and MgB$_{2}$ films. The experimental data is consistent with analytical calculations, and is attributed to the temperature change of the conductivity of both films. The transmission versus conductivity is interpreted within the open resonator model when taking the skin depth into consideration. We also show that the efficiency of this temperature control depends on the ratio of the transmission peak frequency to the superconducting energy gap in MgB$_{2}$ films.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2009

Composite metamaterials with dual-band magnetic resonances in the terahertz frequency regime

Composite metamaterials(CMMs) combining a subwavelength metallic hole array (i.e. one-layer fishnet structure) and an array of split-ring resonators(SRRs) on the same board are fabricated with gold films on silicon wafer. Transmission measurements of the CMMs in the terahertz range have been performed. Dual-band magnetic resonances, namely, a LC resonance at 4.40 THz and an additional magnetic resonance at 8.64 THz originating from the antiparallel current in wire pairs in the CMMs are observed when the electrical field polarization of the incident light is parallel to the gap of the component SRR. The numerical simulations agree well with the experimental results and further clarify the nature of the dual-band magnetic resonances.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2007

Surface plasmon polaritons assisted diffraction in periodic subwavelength holes of metal films with reduced interplane coupling

Metal films grown on Si wafer perforated with a periodic array of subwavelength holes have been fabricated and anomalous enhanced transmission in the mid-infrared regime has been observed. High order transmission peaks up to Si(2,2) are clearly revealed due to the large dielectric constant contrast of the dielectrics at the opposite interfaces. Si(1,1) peak splits at oblique incidence both in TE and TM polarization, which confirms that anomalous enhanced transmission is a surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) assisted diffraction phenomenon. Theoretical transmission spectra agree excellently with the experimental results and confirm the role of SPPs diffraction by the lattice.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗