Chemical composition tuning of the anomalous Hall effect in isoelectronic L10FePd(1-x)Pt(x) alloy films

Fluence and Temperature Dependences of Laser-Induced Ultrafast Demagnetization and Recovery Dynamics in L10-FePt Thin Film

The fundamental mechanisms of ultrafast demagnetization and magnetization recovery processes in ferromagnetic materials remain incompletely understood. The investigation of different dynamic features which depend on various physical quantities requires a more systematic approach. Here, the femtosecond laser-induced demagnetization and recovery dynamics in L1₀-Fe_0.5Pt_0.5 alloy film are studied by utilizing time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr measurements, focusing on their dependences of excitation fluence and ambient temperature over broad ranges. Ultrafast demagnetization dominated by Elliott-Yafet spin-flip scattering, and two-step magnetization recovery processes are found to be involved in all observations. The fast recovery time corresponding to spin-lattice relaxation is much shorter than that of many ferromagnets and increase with excitation fluence. These can be ascribed to the strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC) demonstrated in FePt and the reduction of transient magnetic anisotropy, respectively. Surprisingly, the demagnetization time exhibits no discernible correlation with ambient temperature. Two competitive factors are proposed to account for this phenomenon. On the other hand, the spin-lattice relaxation accelerates as temperature decreases due to enhanced SOC at lower ambient temperature. A semiquantitative analysis is given to get a visualized understanding. These results offer a comprehensive understanding of the dynamic characteristics of ultrafast demagnetization and recovery processes in iron-based materials with strong SOC, highlighting the potential for regulating the magnetization recovery process through temperature and laser fluence adjustments.

Fourfold Anisotropic Magnetoresistance of L1_{0} FePt Due to Relaxation Time Anisotropy

Experimental measurements show that the angular dependence of the anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) in L1_{0} ordered FePt epitaxial films on the current orientation and magnetization direction is a superposition of the corresponding dependences of twofold and fourfold symmetries. The twofold AMR exhibits a strong dependence on the current orientation, whereas the fourfold term only depends on the magnetization direction in the crystal and is independent of the current orientation. First-principles calculations reveal that the fourfold AMR arises from the relaxation time anisotropy due to the variation of the density of states near the Fermi energy under rotation of the magnetization. This relaxation time anisotropy is a universal property in ferromagnetic metals and determines other anisotropic physical properties that are observable in experiment.

The sign reversal of anomalous Hall effect derived from the transformation of scattering effect in cluster-assembled Ni0.8Fe0.2 nanostructural films

Both surface and interface scattering induced a sign reversal of the anomalous Hall effect (AHE) in a few heterostructures. The sign reversal existing in a single substance can clarify the role of the surface scattering in the AHE. Here, cluster-assembled Ni0.8Fe0.2 single-substance films prepared by low-energy cluster beam deposition greatly improved the surface effect with cluster size below a characteristic size of 16.17 nm (dc) due to the high surface-to-volume ratio of the clusters and the loose structure of the films. The films presented a sign reversal of AHE and unusual transitional behavior in temperature- and size-dependent anomalous Hall resistivity with dc as the critical size. Interestingly, we also observed the sign reversal in the same film with a cluster size of dc by regulating the temperature. Based on the existing and modified scaling laws, we discovered the transformation between the bulk and surface scattering mechanisms and their coexistence, and both the sign reversal of AHE and the unusual transitional behaviors of anomalous Hall resistivity were attributed to the predominant scattering effects. Temperature- and size-dependent magnetoresistance (MR) also displayed a significant transformation at dc and further confirm the transitional mechanisms of AHE. This work provides an effective method for regulating AHE to promote its application in spintronic nano-devices.

Temperature assistance of electric field-controlled spin–orbit torque-based magnetization switching in PMN–PT/FePt heterostructures

E-field has an improved regulating effect on PMA and SOT-based current induced magnetization switching of PMN–PT/FePt heterostructures.

Local Disorder-Induced Elevation of Intrinsic Anomalous Hall Conductance in an Electron-Doped Magnetic Weyl Semimetal

Topological materials are expected to show distinct transport signatures owing to their unique band-inversion characteristic and band-crossing points. However, the intentional modulation of such topological responses through experimentally feasible means has yet to be explored in depth. Here, an unusual elevation of the anomalous Hall effect (AHE) is obtained in electron (Ni)-doped magnetic Weyl semimetals Co_{3-x}Ni_{x}Sn_{2}S_{2}, showing peak values in the anomalous Hall-conductivity, Hall-angle, and Hall-factor at a relatively low doping level of x=0.11. The separation of intrinsic and extrinsic contributions using the TYJ scaling model indicates that such a significant enhancement is dominated by the intrinsic mechanism of the electronic Berry curvature. Theoretical calculations reveal that compared with the Fermi-level shifting from electron filling, a usually overlooked effect of doping, that is, local disorder, imposes a striking effect on broadening of the bands and narrowing of the inverted gap, thus resulting in an elevation of the integrated Berry curvature. Our results not only realize an enhancement of the AHE in a magnetic Weyl semimetal, but also provide a practical design principle for modulating the bands and transport properties in topological materials by exploiting the local disorder effect from doping.

Bulk Spin Torque-Driven Perpendicular Magnetization Switching in L10 FePt Single Layer

Due to its inherent superior perpendicular magnetocrystalline anisotropy, the FePt in L1₀ phase enables magnetic storage and memory devices with ultrahigh capacity. However, reversing the FePt magnetic state, and therefore encoding information, has proven to be extremely difficult. Here, it is demonstrated that an electric current can exert a large spin torque on an L1₀ FePt magnet, ultimately leading to reversible magnetization switching. The spin torque monotonically increases with increasing FePt thickness, exhibiting a bulk characteristic. Meanwhile, the spin torque effective fields and switching efficiency increase as the FePt approaches higher chemical ordering with stronger spin-orbit coupling. The symmetry breaking that generates spin torque within L1₀ FePt is shown to arise from an inherent structural gradient along the film normal direction. By artificially reversing the structural gradient, an opposite spin torque effect in L1₀ FePt is demonstrated. At last, the role of the disorder gradient in generating a substantial torque in a single ferromagnet is supported by theoretical calculations. These results will push forward the frontier of material systems for generating spin torques and will have a transformative impact on magnetic storage and spin memory devices with simple architecture, ultrahigh density, and readily application.

Electric-Field-Enhanced Bulk Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy in GdFe/Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)0.7Ti0.3O3 Multiferroic Heterostructure

Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy is important for increasing the information storage density in the perpendicular magnetic recording media, and for rare-earth-transition-metal alloys with bulk perpendicular magnetic anisotropy that generate great research interest due to their abundant interesting phenomena, such as fast domain wall motion and skyrmion. Here, we deposit amorphous GdFe ferrimagnetic films on Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)_0.7Ti_0.3O₃ ferroelectric substrate and investigate the effect of electric-field-induced piezostrain on its bulk perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. The anomalous Hall effect and polar Kerr image measurements suggest an enhanced bulk perpendicular magnetic anisotropy by electric field, which originates from a positive magnetoelastic anisotropy due to the positive magnetostriction coefficient of the GdFe film and the electric-field-induced tensile strain along the z axis in Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)_0.7Ti_0.3O₃ ferroelectric substrate. Our results enrich the electrical control of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and are useful for designing spintronic devices based on perpendicular magnetic anisotropy.

Tunable Giant Anomalous Hall Angle in Perpendicular Multilayers by Interfacial Orbital Hybridization

A spintronic device based on the spin-dependent Hall effect has attracted great interest because of its great potential applications in the multivalue storage and logic gate, which is a promising candidate to break the bottleneck of the information industry in the big data period. It is a technological challenge to implant spintronic devices into semiconductor integrated circuits. The anomalous Hall angle (θ), defined as the deviation of the electron flow from the current direction, is the key parameter to evaluate the capacity of Hall device compatibility. However, the bottleneck for the device is low θ (less than 5%) at room temperature (RT), making it difficult to directly complement with the semiconductor circuit which limits its potential application. Here, we report a simple perpendicular multilayered structure with θ up to 5.1% at RT. Wide working temperature (250-350 K) across RT for our samples will accelerate the potential applications in spintronic memory. A giant Hall angle at RT originates from the enhanced side-jump scattering at the atomic-scale-modified interfacial structure. The high θ at RT together with wide working temperature is practically significant and may provide the way for further 3D spintronic devices based on the spin-dependent Hall effect with ultrahigh storage density and ultralow power consumption.

Nonvolatile modulation of electronic structure and correlative magnetism of L10-FePt films using significant strain induced by shape memory substrates

Tuning the lattice strain (εL) is a novel approach to manipulate the magnetic, electronic, and transport properties of spintronic materials. Achievable εL in thin film samples induced by traditional ferroelectric or flexible substrates is usually volatile and well below 1%. Such limits in the tuning capability cannot meet the requirements for nonvolatile applications of spintronic materials. This study answers to the challenge of introducing significant amount of elastic strain in deposited thin films so that noticeable tuning of the spintronic characteristics can be realized. Based on subtle elastic strain engineering of depositing L10-FePt films on pre-stretched NiTi(Nb) shape memory alloy substrates, steerable and nonvolatile lattice strain up to 2.18% has been achieved in the L10-FePt films by thermally controlling the shape memory effect of the substrates. Introduced strains at this level significantly modify the electronic density of state, orbital overlap, and spin-orbit coupling (SOC) strength in the FePt film, leading to nonvolatile modulation of magnetic anisotropy and magnetization reversal characteristics. This finding not only opens an efficient avenue for the nonvolatile tuning of SOC based magnetism and spintronic effects, but also helps to clarify the physical nature of pure strain effect.

Enhanced anomalous Hall effect in Fe nanocluster assembled thin films

An enhanced anomalous Hall effect is observed in heterogeneous uniform Fe cluster assembled films with different film thicknesses (ta = 160-1200 nm) fabricated by a plasma-gas-condensation method. The anomalous Hall coefficient (Rs) at ta = 1200 nm reaches its maximum of 2.4 × 10(-8) Ω cm G(-1) at 300 K, which is almost four orders of magnitude larger than bulk Fe. The saturated Hall resistivity (ρ(A)xy) first increases and then decreases with the increase of temperature accompanied by a sign change from positive to negative. Analysis of the results revealed that ρ(A)xy decreases with increasing longitudinal resistivity (ρxx) on a double-logarithmic scale and obeys a new scaling relation of log(ρ(A)xy/ρxx) = a0 + b0 log ρxx.

Quadratic scaling of intrinsic Gilbert damping with spin-orbital coupling in L10 FePdPt films: experiments and Ab initio calculations

The dependence of the intrinsic Gilbert damping parameter α(0) on the spin-orbital coupling strength ξ is investigated in L1(0) ordered FePd(1-x) Pt(x) films by time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements and spin-dependent ab initio calculations. Continuous tuning of α(0) over more than one order of magnitude is realized by changing the Pt/Pd concentration ratio showing that α(0) is proportional to ξ(2) as changes of other leading parameters are found to be negligible. The perpendicular magnetic anisotropy is shown to have a similar variation trend with x. The present results may facilitate the design and fabrication of new magnetic alloys with large perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and tailored damping properties.