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Da Browski M, Scott JN, Hendren WR, Forbes CM, Frisk A, Burn DM, Newman DG, Sait CRJ, Keatley PS, N'Diaye AT, Hesjedal T, van der Laan G, Bowman RM, Hicken RJ. Transition Metal Synthetic Ferrimagnets: Tunable Media for All-Optical Switching Driven by Nanoscale Spin Current. Nano Lett 2021; 21:9210-9216. [PMID: 34699234 DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c03081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
All-optical switching of magnetization has great potential for use in future ultrafast and energy efficient nanoscale magnetic storage devices. So far, research has been almost exclusively focused on rare-earth based materials, which limits device tunability and scalability. Here, we show that a perpendicularly magnetized synthetic ferrimagnet composed of two distinct transition metal ferromagnetic layers, Ni3Pt and Co, can exhibit helicity independent magnetization switching. Switching occurs between two equivalent remanent states with antiparallel alignment of the Ni3Pt and Co magnetic moments and is observable over a broad temperature range. Time-resolved measurements indicate that the switching is driven by a spin-polarized current passing through the subnanometer Ir interlayer. The magnetic properties of this model system may be tuned continuously via subnanoscale changes in the constituent layer thicknesses as well as growth conditions, allowing the underlying mechanisms to be elucidated and paving the way to a new class of data storage devices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maciej Da Browski
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QL, United Kingdom
| | - Jade N Scott
- School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
| | - William R Hendren
- School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
| | - Colin M Forbes
- School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
| | - Andreas Frisk
- Diamond Light Source, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot OX11 0DE, United Kingdom
| | - David M Burn
- Diamond Light Source, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot OX11 0DE, United Kingdom
| | - David G Newman
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QL, United Kingdom
| | - Connor R J Sait
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QL, United Kingdom
| | - Paul S Keatley
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QL, United Kingdom
| | - Alpha T N'Diaye
- Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
| | - Thorsten Hesjedal
- Department of Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom
| | - Gerrit van der Laan
- Diamond Light Source, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot OX11 0DE, United Kingdom
| | - Robert M Bowman
- School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
| | - Robert J Hicken
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QL, United Kingdom
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