arXiv subjects

Yizheng Wu

Publications and source records attributed to Yizheng Wu.

47 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

In-plane Néel wall chirality and orientation of interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya vector in magnetic films

The interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) is of great interest as it can stabilize chiral spin structures in thin films. Experiments verifying the orientation of the interfacial DMI vector remain rare, in part due to the difficulty of separating vector components of DMI. In this study, Fe/Ni bilayers and Co/Ni multilayers were deposited epitaxially onto Cu(001) and Pt(111) substrates, respectively. By tailoring the effective anisotropy, spin reorientation transitions (SRTs) are employed to probe the orientation of the DMI vector by measuring the spin structure of domain walls on both sides of the SRTs. The interfacial DMI is found to be sufficiently strong to stabilize chiral Néel walls in the out-of-plane magnetized regimes, while achiral Néel walls are observed in the in-plane magnetized regimes. These findings experimentally confirm that the out-of-plane component of the DMI vector is insignificant in these fcc(001) and fcc(111) oriented interfaces, even in the presence of atomic steps.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Optical imaging of antiferromagnetic domains in ultrathin CoO(001) films

Antiferromagnetic (AFM) domains in ultrathin CoO(001) films are imaged by a wide-field optical microscopy using magneto-optical birefringence effect. The magnetic origin of observed optical contrast is confirmed by the spin orientation manipulation through exchange coupling in Fe/CoO(001) bilayer. The finite size effect of ordering temperature for ultrathin single crystal CoO film is revealed by the thickness and temperature dependent measurement of birefringence contrast. The magneto-optical birefringence effect is found to strongly depend on the photon energy of incident light, and a surprising large polarization rotation angle up to 168.5 mdeg is obtained from a 4.6 nm CoO film with a blue light source, making it possible to further investigate the evolution of AFM domains in AFM ultrathin film under external field.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Interface reflectivity of a superdiffusive spin current in ultrafast demagnetization and THz emission

The spin- and energy-dependent interface reflectivity of a ferromagnetic (FM) film in contact with a nonmagnetic (NM) film is calculated using a first-principles transport method and incorporated into the superdiffusive spin transport model to study the femtosecond laser-induced ultrafast demagnetization of Fe|NM and Ni|NM (NM= Au, Al & Pt) bilayers. By comparing the calculated demagnetization with transparent and real interfaces, we demonstrate that the spin-dependent reflection of hot electrons has a noticeable influence on the ultrafast demagnetization and the associated terahertz electromagnetic radiation. In particular, a spin filtering effect is found at the Fe|NM interface that increases the spin current injected into the NM metal, which enhances both the resulting demagnetization and the resulting THz emission. This suggests that the THz radiation can be optimized by tailoring the interface, indicating a very large tunability.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Imaging Antiferromagnetic Domains in Nickel-oxide Thin Films by Magneto-optical Voigt Effect

Recent demonstrations of electrical detection and manipulation of antiferromagnets (AFMs) have opened new opportunities towards robust and ultrafast spintronics devices. However, it is difficult to establish the connection between the spin-transport behavior and the microscopic AFM domain states due to the lack of the real-time AFM domain imaging technique under the electric field. Here we report a significant Voigt rotation up to 60 mdeg in thin NiO(001) films at room temperature. Such large Voigt rotation allows us to directly observe AFM domains in thin-film NiO by utilizing a wide-field optical microscope. Further complementary XMLD-PEEM measurement confirms that the Voigt contrast originates from the NiO AFM order. We examine the domain pattern evolution at a wide range of temperature and with the application of external magnetic field. Comparing to large-scale-facility techniques such as the X-ray photoemission electron microscopy, the use with a wide-field, tabletop optical imaging method enables straightforward access to domain configurations of single-layer AFMs.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Giant anisotropy of Gilbert damping in epitaxial CoFe films

Tailoring Gilbert damping of metallic ferromagnetic thin films is one of the central interests in spintronics applications. Here we report a giant Gilbert damping anisotropy in epitaxial Co$_{50}$Fe$_{50}$ thin film with a maximum-minimum damping ratio of 400 \%, determined by broadband spin-torque as well as inductive ferromagnetic resonance. We conclude that the origin of this damping anisotropy is the variation of the spin orbit coupling for different magnetization orientations in the cubic lattice, which is further corroborate from the magnitude of the anisotropic magnetoresistance in Co$_{50}$Fe$_{50}$.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Anisotropic Spin Relaxation Induced by Surface Spin-Orbit Effects

It is a common perception that the transport of a spin current in polycrystalline metal is isotropic and independent of the polarization direction, even though spin current is a tensorlike quantity and its polarization direction is a key variable. We demonstrate surprising anisotropic spin relaxation in mesoscopic polycrystalline Cu channels in nonlocal spin valves. For directions in the substrate plane, the spin-relaxation length is longer for spins parallel to the Cu channel than for spins perpendicular to it, by as much as 9% at 10 K. Spin-orbit effects on the surfaces of Cu channels can account for this anisotropic spin relaxation. The finding suggests novel tunability of spin current, not only by its polarization direction but also by electrostatic gating.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Stabilization and current-induced motion of antiskyrmion in the presence of anisotropic Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction

Topological defects in magnetism have attracted great attention due to fundamental research interests and potential novel spintronics applications. Rich examples of topological defects can be found in nanoscale non-uniform spin textures, such as monopoles, domain walls, vortices, and skyrmions. Recently, skyrmions stabilized by the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction have been studied extensively. However, the stabilization of antiskyrmions is less straightforward. Here, using numerical simulations we demonstrate that antiskyrmions can be a stable spin configuration in the presence of anisotropic Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. We find current-driven antiskyrmion motion that has a transverse component, namely antiskyrmion Hall effect. The antiskyrmion gyroconstant is opposite to that for skyrmion, which allows the current-driven propagation of coupled skyrmion-antiskyrmion pairs without apparent skyrmion Hall effect. The antiskyrmion Hall angle strongly depends on the current direction, and a zero antiskyrmion Hall angle can be achieved at a critic current direction. These results open up possibilities to tailor the spin topology in nanoscale magnetism, which may be useful in the emerging field of skyrmionics.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Room-temperature chiral charge pumping in Dirac semimetals

Chiral anomaly, a non-conservation of chiral charge pumped by the topological nontrivial gauge fields, has been predicted to exist in Weyl semimetals. However, until now, the experimental signature of this effect exclusively relies on the observation of negative longitudinal magnetoresistance at low temperatures. Here, we report the field-modulated chiral charge pumping process and valley diffusion in Cd3As2. Apart from the conventional negative magnetoresistance, we observe an unusual nonlocal response with negative field dependence up to room temperature, originating from the diffusion of valley polarization. Furthermore, a large magneto-optic Kerr effect generated by parallel electric and magnetic fields is detected. These new experimental approaches provide a quantitative analysis of the chiral anomaly phenomenon which is inaccessible previously. The ability to manipulate the valley polarization in topological semimetal at room temperature opens up a brand-new route towards understanding its fundamental properties and utilizing the chiral fermions.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Spin Hall effects in mesoscopic Pt films with high resistivity

The energy efficiency of the spin Hall effects (SHE) can be enhanced if the electrical conductivity is decreased without sacrificing the spin Hall conductivity. The resistivity of Pt films can be increased to 150-300 μΩ*cm by mesoscopic lateral confinement, thereby decreasing the conductivity. The SHE and inverse spin Hall effects (ISHE) in these mesoscopic Pt films are explored at 10 K by using the nonlocal spin injection/detection method. All relevant physical quantities are determined in-situ on the same substrate, and a quantitative approach is developed to characterize all processes effectively. Extensive measurements with various Pt thickness values reveal an upper limit for the Pt spin diffusion length: λ_pt<0.8 nm. The average product of λ_pt and the Pt spin Hall angle α_H is substantial: α_H*λ_pt=(0.142 +/- 0.040)nm for 4 nm thick Pt, though a gradual decrease is observed at larger Pt thickness. The results suggest enhanced spin Hall effects in resistive mesoscopic Pt films.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Powerful and Tunable THz Emitters Based on the Fe/Pt Magnetic Heterostructure

In this work, we report our study on the THz emission in Fe/Pt magnetic heterostructures. We have carried out a comprehensive investigation of THz emission from Fe/Pt magnetic heterostructures, employing time-domain THz spectroscopy. We reveal that by properly tuning the thickness of Fe or Pt layer, THz emission can be greatly improved in this type of heterostructure. We further demonstrate that the THz field strength emitted from a newly designed multilayer (Pt/Fe/MgO)$_n$ with n=3 can reach a value of ~1.6 kV/cm, which is comparable to the values from the conventional GaAs antenna with a bias of 4 kV/cm, and the nonlinear crystals, e.g., 100 micrometer GaP and 2 mm ZnTe. For the first time, the intensity and spectrum of THz wave is demonstrated to be tunable by the magnetic field applied on the patterned magnetic Fe/Pt heterostructures. These findings thus promise novel approaches to fabricate powerful and tunable THz emitters based on magnetic heterostructure.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Spin-valve Effect in NiFe/MoS2/NiFe Junctions

Two-dimensional (2D) layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have been recently proposed as appealing candidate materials for spintronic applications owing to their distinctive atomic crystal structure and exotic physical properties arising from the large bonding anisotropy. Here we introduce the first MoS2-based spin-valves that employ monolayer MoS2 as the nonmagnetic spacer. In contrast with what expected from the semiconducting band-structure of MoS2, the vertically sandwiched-MoS2 layers exhibit metallic behavior. This originates from their strong hybridization with the Ni and Fe atoms of the Permalloy (Py) electrode. The spin-valve effect is observed up to 240 K, with the highest magnetoresistance (MR) up to 0.73% at low temperatures. The experimental work is accompanied by the first principle electron transport calculations, which reveal an MR of ~ 9% for an ideal Py/MoS2/Py junction. Our results clearly identify TMDs as a promising spacer compound in magnetic tunnel junctions and may open a new avenue for the TMDs-based spintronic applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗