Static magnetic proximity effect in Pt/Ni1−x_{1-x}Fex_x bilayers investigated by x-ray resonant magnetic reflectivity

We present x-ray resonant magnetic reflectivity (XRMR) as a very sensitive tool to detect proximity induced interface spin polarization in Pt/Fe, Pt/Ni$_{33}$Fe$_{67}$, Pt/Ni$_{81}$Fe$_{19}$ (permalloy), and Pt/Ni bilayers. We demonstrate that a detailed analysis of the reflected x-ray intensity gives insight in the spatial distribution of the spin polarization of a non-magnetic metal across the interface to a ferromagnetic layer. The evaluation of the experimental results with simulations based on optical data from ab initio calculations provides the induced magnetic moment per Pt atom in the spin polarized volume adjacent to the ferromagnet. We find the largest spin polarization in Pt/Fe and a much smaller magnetic proximity effect in Pt/Ni. Additional XRMR experiments with varying photon energy are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions for the energy dependence of the magnetooptic parameters and allow identifying the optical dispersion $\delta$ and absorption $\beta$ across the Pt L3-absorption edge

Static Magnetic Proximity Effect in Pt Layers on Sputter-Deposited NiFe2O4 and on Fe of Various Thicknesses Investigated by XRMR

The longitudinal spin Seebeck effect is detected in sputter-deposited NiFe2O4 films using Pt as a spin detector and compared to previously investigated NiFe2O4 films prepared by chemical vapor deposition. Anomalous Nernst effects induced by the magnetic proximity effect in Pt can be excluded for the sputter-deposited NiFe2O4 films down to a certain limit, since x-ray resonant magnetic reflectivity measurements show no magnetic response down to a limit of 0.04 {\mu}B per Pt atom comparable to the case of the chemicallydeposited NiFe2O4 films. These differently prepared films have various thicknesses. Therefore, we further studied Pt/Fe reference samples with various Fe thicknesses and could confirm that the magnetic proximity effect is only induced by the interface properties of the magnetic material.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Nonlocal magnon spin transport in yttrium iron garnet with tantalum and platinum spin injection/detection electrodes

We study the magnon spin transport in the magnetic insulator yttrium iron garnet (YIG) in a nonlocal experiment and compare the magnon spin excitation and detection for the heavy metal paramagnetic electrodes platinum (Pt|YIG|Pt) and tantalum (Ta|YIG|Ta). The electrical injection and detection processes rely on the (inverse) spin Hall effect in the heavy metals and the conversion between the electron spin and magnon spin at the heavy metal|YIG interface. Pt and Ta possess opposite signs of the spin Hall angle. Furthermore, their heterostructures with YIG have different interface properties, i.e. spin mixing conductances. By varying the distance between injector and detector, the magnon spin transport is studied. Using a circuit model based on the diffusion-relaxation transport theory, a similar magnon relaxation length of ~ 10 \mu m was extracted from both Pt and Ta devices. By changing the injector and detector material from Pt to Ta, the influence of interface properties on the magnon spin transport has been observed. For Ta devices on YIG the spin mixing conductance is reduced compared with Pt devices, which is quantitatively consistent when comparing the dependence of the nonlocal signal on the injector-detector distance with the prediction from the circuit model.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Enhancement of thermovoltage and tunnel magneto-Seebeck effect in CoFeB based magnetic tunnel junctions by variation of the MgAl2_2O4_4 and MgO barrier thickness

We investigate the influence of the barrier thickness of Co$_{40}$Fe$_{40}$B$_{20}$ based magnetic tunnel junctions on the laser-induced tunnel magneto-Seebeck effect. Varying the barrier thickness from 1nm to 3nm, we find a distinct maximum in the tunnel magneto-Seebeck effect for 2.6nm barrier thickness. This maximum is independently measured for two barrier materials, namely MgAl$_2$O$_4$ and MgO. Additionally, samples with an MgAl$_2$O$_4$ barrier exhibit a high thermovoltage of more than 350$\mu$V in comparison to 90$\mu$V for the MTJs with MgO barrier when heated with the maximum laser power of 150mW. Our results allow for the fabrication of improved stacks when dealing with temperature differences across magnetic tunnel junctions for future applications in spin caloritronics, the emerging research field that combines spintronics and themoelectrics

Detection of DC currents and resistance measurements in longitudinal spin Seebeck effect experiments on Pt/YIG and Pt/NFO

In this work we investigated thin films of the ferrimagnetic insulators YIG and NFO capped with thin Pt layers in terms of the longitudinal spin Seebeck effect (LSSE). The electric response detected in the Pt layer under an out-of-plane temperature gradient can be interpreted as a pure spin current converted into a charge current via the inverse spin Hall effect. Typically, the transverse voltage is the quantity investigated in LSSE measurements (in the range of \mu V). Here, we present the directly detected DC current (in the range of nA) as an alternative quantity. Furthermore, we investigate the resistance of the Pt layer in the LSSE configuration. We found an influence of the test current on the resistance. The typical shape of the LSSE curve varies for increasing test currents.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Influence of yttrium iron garnet thickness and heater opacity on the nonlocal transport of electrically and thermally excited magnons

We studied the nonlocal transport behavior of both electrically and thermally excited magnons in yttrium iron garnet (YIG) as a function of its thickness. For electrically injected magnons, the nonlocal signals decrease monotonically as the YIG thickness increases. For the nonlocal behavior of the thermally generated magnons, or the nonlocal spin Seebeck effect (SSE), we observed a sign reversal which occurs at a certain heater-detector distance, and it is influenced by both the opacity of the YIG/heater interface and the YIG thickness. Our nonlocal SSE results can be qualitatively explained by the bulk-driven SSE mechanism together with the magnon diffusion model. Using a two-dimensional finite element model (2D-FEM), we estimated the bulk spin Seebeck coefficient of YIG at room temperature. The quantitative disagreement between the experimental and modeled results indicates more complex processes going on in addition to magnon diffusion and relaxation, especially close to the contacts.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figure

Impact of Strain and Morphology on Magnetic Properties of Fe3O4/NiO Bilayers Grown on Nb:SrTiO3(001) and MgO(001)

Kuschel O, Pathé N, Schemme T, et al. Impact of Strain and Morphology on Magnetic Properties of Fe3O4/NiO Bilayers Grown on Nb:SrTiO3(001) and MgO(001). Materials. 2018;11(7): 1122.We present a comparative study of the morphology and structural as well as magnetic properties of crystalline Fe3O4/NiO bilayers grown on both MgO(001) and SrTiO3(001) substrates by reactive molecular beam epitaxy. These structures were investigated by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, low-energy electron diffraction, X-ray reflectivity and diffraction, as well as vibrating sample magnetometry. While the lattice mismatch of NiO grown on MgO(001) was only 0.8%, it was exposed to a lateral lattice mismatch of -6.9% if grown on SrTiO3. In the case of Fe3O4, the misfit strain on MgO(001) and SrTiO3(001) amounted to 0.3% and -7.5%, respectively. To clarify the relaxation process of the bilayer system, the film thicknesses of the magnetite and nickel oxide films were varied between 5 and 20 nm. While NiO films were well ordered on both substrates, Fe3O4 films grown on NiO/SrTiO3 exhibited a higher surface roughness as well as lower structural ordering compared to films grown on NiO/MgO. Further, NiO films grew pseudomorphic in the investigated thickness range on MgO substrates without any indication of relaxation, whereas on SrTiO3 the NiO films showed strong strain relaxation. Fe3O4 films also exhibited strong relaxation, even for films of 5nm thickness on both NiO/MgO and NiO/SrTiO3. The magnetite layers on both substrates showed a fourfold magnetic in-plane anisotropy with magnetic easy axes pointing in directions. The coercive field was strongly enhanced for magnetite grown on NiO/SrTiO3 due to the higher density of structural defects, compared to magnetite grown on NiO/MgO