Magnetism and spin transport at permalloy/Cu1xTbx interfaces

Sheng Jiang, Zhaocong Huang, Qi An, Wen Zhang, Yuli Yin, Dong Zhang, Jun Du, Biao You, Jian-Guo Zheng, Wenqing Liu, and Ya Zhai
Phys. Rev. B 105, 184421 – Published 20 May 2022

Abstract

The significance of spin transport over an interface in energy-efficient spintronic devices has stimulated interest in the spintronic society during the last few decades. Here, interfaces of permalloy/Cu1xTbx (Py/Cu-Tb) were investigated in depth. As the Cu-Tb thickness increases, we found that the saturation magnetization of the bilayers falls and then plateaus. Element-specific x-ray magnetic circular dichroism studies suggest that the Tb moment aligns opposite to the Fe and Ni moments, forming a self-assembled antiferromagnetic interface. As a result, the Cu-Tb adjacent layer to Py and the interface have a significant impact on spin transport. Relevant parameters, such as spin mixing conductance, spin diffusion length, and damping, can be tuned by inserting a thin Cu layer between Py and Tb or varying the compositions of Cu-Tb alloys. Using rare-earth Tb, we provide an effective method for controlling the spin transport and magnetism of ferromagnet/normal-metal interfaces. This approach is expected to have a great deal of potential in spintronic applications.

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  • Received 22 August 2021
  • Revised 23 February 2022
  • Accepted 9 May 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.105.184421

©2022 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Sheng Jiang1,2,4,*, Zhaocong Huang1,*, Qi An3, Wen Zhang2, Yuli Yin1, Dong Zhang1, Jun Du5, Biao You5, Jian-Guo Zheng6, Wenqing Liu3,†, and Ya Zhai1,5,‡

  • 1School of Physics, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, Jiangsu, China
  • 2School of Microelectronics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi, China
  • 3Department of Electronic Engineering, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham TW20 0EX, United Kingdom
  • 4Yangtze River Delta Research Institute of NPU, Taicang 215400, Jiangsu, China
  • 5National Laboratory of Solid-State Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, Jiangsu, China
  • 6Irvine Materials Research Institute, University of California, Irvine, California 92697-2800, USA

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • Corresponding author: Wenqing.Liu@rhul.ac.uk
  • Corresponding author: yazhai@seu.edu.cn

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Issue

Vol. 105, Iss. 18 — 1 May 2022

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