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Current-induced switching in a magnetic insulator

Nature Materials volume 16, pages 309–314 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

The spin Hall effect in heavy metals converts charge current into pure spin current, which can be injected into an adjacent ferromagnet to exert a torque. This spin–orbit torque (SOT) has been widely used to manipulate the magnetization in metallic ferromagnets. In the case of magnetic insulators (MIs), although charge currents cannot flow, spin currents can propagate, but current-induced control of the magnetization in a MI has so far remained elusive. Here we demonstrate spin-current-induced switching of a perpendicularly magnetized thulium iron garnet film driven by charge current in a Pt overlayer. We estimate a relatively large spin-mixing conductance and damping-like SOT through spin Hall magnetoresistance and harmonic Hall measurements, respectively, indicating considerable spin transparency at the Pt/MI interface. We show that spin currents injected across this interface lead to deterministic magnetization reversal at low current densities, paving the road towards ultralow-dissipation spintronic devices based on MIs.

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Figure 1: Structural and magnetic properties of PMA TmIG.
Figure 2: SMR measurements on a TmIG/Pt bilayer device.
Figure 3: Determination of the damping-like SOT in TmIG/Pt by harmonic measurements.
Figure 4: Current-induced magnetization switching of TmIG/Pt.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge support from C-SPIN, one of the six SRC STARnet Centers, sponsored by MARCO and DARPA. A.Q. acknowledges funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and from the Max-Planck-Institute of Microstructure Physics. C.O.A. and C.-F.P. thank K. Ueda and A. J. Tan for fruitful discussions.

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Author notes

  1. Chi-Feng Pai

    Present address: Present address: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan.,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA

    Can Onur Avci, Andy Quindeau, Chi-Feng Pai, Maxwell Mann, Lucas Caretta, Astera S. Tang, Mehmet C. Onbasli, Caroline A. Ross & Geoffrey S. D. Beach

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Contributions

G.S.D.B. and C.A.R. proposed and supervised the study. C.O.A., M.M., C.-F.P. and G.S.D.B. designed the transport experiments. A.Q., A.S.T. and M.C.O. fabricated the TmIG samples. A.Q. performed structural and magnetic analysis. M.M. carried out photolithography processing. C.O.A., M.M. and A.Q. carried out transport measurements. M.M. and L.C. designed and established the electrical measurement equipment.

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Correspondence to Caroline A. Ross or Geoffrey S. D. Beach.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Avci, C., Quindeau, A., Pai, CF. et al. Current-induced switching in a magnetic insulator. Nature Mater 16, 309–314 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4812

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