Picosecond Switching of Optomagnetic Tunnel Junctions

Perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions are one of the building blocks for spintronic memories, which allow fast nonvolatile data access, offering substantial potentials to revolutionize the mainstream computing architecture. However, conventional switching mechanisms of such devices are fundamentally hindered by spin polarized currents4, either spin transfer torque or spin orbit torque with spin precession time limitation and excessive power dissipation. These physical constraints significantly stimulate the advancement of modern spintronics. Here, we report an optomagnetic tunnel junction using a spintronic-photonic combination. This composite device incorporates an all-optically switchable Co/Gd bilayer coupled to a CoFeB/MgO-based perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction by the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interaction. A picosecond all-optical operation of the optomagnetic tunnel junction is explicitly confirmed by time-resolved measurements. Moreover, the device shows a considerable tunnel magnetoresistance and thermal stability. This proof-of-concept device represents an essential step towards ultrafast spintronic memories with THz data access, as well as ultralow power consumption.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figure

Picosecond optospintronic tunnel junctions

Perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions (p-MTJs), as building blocks of spintronic devices, offer substantial potential for next-generation nonvolatile memory applications. However, their performance is fundamentally hindered by a subnanosecond speed limitation, due to spin-polarized-current-based mechanisms. Here, we report an optospintronic tunnel junction (OTJ) device with a picosecond switching speed, ultralow power, high magnetoresistance ratio, high thermal stability, and nonvolatility. This device incorporates an all-optically switchable Gd/Co bilayer coupled to a CoFeB/MgO-based p-MTJ, by subtle tuning of Ruderman–Kittel–Kasuya–Yosida interaction. An all-optical “writing” of the OTJ within 10 ps is experimentally demonstrated by time-resolved measurements. The device shows a reliable resistance “readout” with a relatively high tunnel magnetoresistance of 34.7%, as well as promising scaling toward the nanoscale with ultralow power consumption (<100 fJ for a 50-nm-sized bit). Our proof-of-concept demonstration of OTJ might ultimately pave the way toward a new category of integrated spintronic–photonic memory devices

Application of spherical harmonics analysis on LBS particles and LBS fragments

This paper applies surface parameterization and spherical harmonics analysis to the characterization of particle shapes of Leighton Buzzard sand (LBS) particles and LBS fragments obtained from X-ray micro-tomography (μCT). The rotation, transition and scale independent spherical coefficients were obtained. The relationship between spherical coefficients and shape parameters of form, roundness and compactness was investigated. The coefficients of degree one determine the principal dimensions of an ellipsoid, which has a similar aspect ratio with the original surface. The coefficients of higher degree characterise more details by increasing the percentage of higher and lower mean curvature on the reconstructed surface. As the spherical degree increases, the reconstructed surface tend to have lower particle roundness, sphericity and convexity, and higher aspect ratio

Numerical analysis of air effect on the powder flow dynamics in the FT4 Powder Rheometer

The FT4 powder rheometer of Freeman Technology is widely used nowadays in industry for characterisation of particle flow under dynamic conditions of shear strain rate. It measures the work (termed flow energy) required to penetrate a rotating impeller into a powder bed. However, little is known about its underlying powder mechanics, i.e. the relationship between the flow energy and the prevailing local shear stress. This has recently been studied, but only for very simple and ideal systems amenable to analysis by DEM. We analyse the effect of gas flow through the powder bed on the flow behaviour of cohesionless particles in FT4 by DEM-CFD simulation. The results show that the relative particle velocities induced by the mean shear speed, is of the same order as that produced by the root of granular temperature. The shear stress in both cases with and without gas flow could be quantified by the inertial number. The flow energy correlates well with the shear stress in front of the blade, and both increase with the inertial number and could be significantly reduced by the upward gas flow

Numerical analysis of strain rate sensitivity in ball indentation on cohesive powder Beds

In the shear deformation of powder beds beyond the quasi-static regime the shear stress is dependent on the strain rate. Extensive work has been reported on the rapid chute flow of large granules but the intermediate regime has not been widely addressed particularly in the case of cohesive powders. However in industrial powder processes the powder flow is often in the intermediate regime. In the present work an attempt is made to investigate the sensitivity of the stresses in an assembly of cohesive spherical particles to the strain rate in ball indentation using the Distinct Element Method. This technique has recently been proposed as a quick and easy way to assess the flowability of cohesive powders. It is shown that the hardness, deviatoric and hydrostatic stresses within a bed, subjected to ball indentation on its free surface, are dependent on the indentation strain rate. These stresses are almost constant up to a dimensionless strain rate of unity, consistent with trends from traditional methods of shear cell testing, though fluctuations begin to increase from a dimensionless strain rate of 0.5. For dimensionless strain rates greater than unity, these stresses increase, with the increase in hardness being the most substantial. These trends correlate well with those established in the literature for the Couette device. However the quantitative value of the strain rate boundary of the regimes differs, due to differences in the geometry of shear deformation bands. Nevertheless, this shows the capability of the indentation technique in capturing the dynamics of cohesive powder flow

A Continuum Description of Vibrated Sand

The motion of a thin layer of granular material on a plate undergoing sinusoidal vibrations is considered. We develop equations of motion for the local thickness and the horizontal velocity of the layer. The driving comes from the violent impact of the grains on the plate. A linear stability theory reveals that the waves are excited non-resonantly, in contrast to the usual Faraday waves in liquids. Together with the experimentally observed continuum scaling, the model suggests a close connection between the neutral curve and the dispersion relation of the waves, which agrees quite well with experiments. For strong hysteresis we find localized oscillon solutions.Comment: paper has been considerably extended (11 instead of 6 pages; 6 instead of 4 figures) much better agreement with experiment. obtain now oscillons in 1 dimensio

Calibration of linear contact stiffnesses in discrete element models using a hybrid analytical-computational framework

Efficient selections of particle-scale contact parameters in discrete element modelling remain an open question. The aim of this study is to provide a hybrid calibration framework to estimate linear contact stiffnesses (normal and tangential) for both two-dimensional and three-dimensional simulations. Analytical formulas linking macroscopic parameters (Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio) to mesoscopic particle parameters for granular systems are derived based on statistically isotropic packings under small-strain isotropic stress conditions. By taking the derived analytical solutions as initial approximations, the gradient descent algorithm automatically obtains a reliable numerical estimation. The proposed framework is validated with several numerical cases including randomly distributed monodisperse and polydisperse packings. The results show that this hybrid method practically reduces the time for artificial trials and errors to obtain reasonable stiffness parameters. The proposed framework can be extended to other parameter calibration problems in DEM