Voltage control of magnetic order in RKKY coupled multilayers

In the field of antiferromagnetic (AFM) spintronics, there is a substantial effort present to make AFMs viable active components for efficient and fast devices. Typically, this is done by manipulating the AFM Néel vector. Here, we establish a method of enabling AFM active components by directly controlling the magnetic order. We show that magneto-ionic gating of hydrogen enables dynamic control of the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) interaction in solid-state synthetic AFM multilayer devices. Using a gate voltage, we tune the RKKY interaction to drive continuous transitions from AFM to FM and vice versa. The switching is submillisecond at room temperature and fully reversible. We validate the utility of this method by demonstrating that magneto-ionic gating of the RKKY interaction allows for 180° field-free deterministic switching. This dynamic method of controlling a fundamental exchange interaction can engender the manipulation of a broader array of spin textures, e.g., chiral domain walls and skyrmions

Three-terminal resistive switch based on metal/metal oxide redox reactions

A solid-state three-terminal resistive switch based on gate-voltage-tunable reversible oxidation of a thin-film metallic channel is demonstrated. The switch is composed of a cobalt wire placed under a GdOx layer and a Au top electrode. The lateral resistance of the wire changes with the transition between cobalt and cobalt oxide controlled by a voltage applied to the top electrode. The kinetics of the oxidation and reduction process are examined through time- and temperature-dependent transport measurements. It is shown that that reversible voltage induced lateral resistance switching with a ratio of 10 3 can be achieved at room temperature. The reversible non-volatile redox reaction between metal and metal oxide may provide additional degrees of freedom for post-fabrication control of properties of solid-state materials. This type of three-terminal device has potential applications in neuromorphic computing and multilevel data storage, as well as applications that require controlling a relatively large current.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant DMR-1419807

Coherent correlation imaging for resolving fluctuating states of matter

Fluctuations and stochastic transitions are ubiquitous in nanometre-scale systems, especially in the presence of disorder. However, their direct observation has so far been impeded by a seemingly fundamental, signal-limited compromise between spatial and temporal resolution. Here we develop coherent correlation imaging (CCI) to overcome this dilemma. Our method begins by classifying recorded camera frames in Fourier space. Contrast and spatial resolution emerge by averaging selectively over same-state frames. Temporal resolution down to the acquisition time of a single frame arises independently from an exceptionally low misclassification rate, which we achieve by combining a correlation-based similarity metric1,2 with a modified, iterative hierarchical clustering algorithm3,4. We apply CCI to study previously inaccessible magnetic fluctuations in a highly degenerate magnetic stripe domain state with nanometre-scale resolution. We uncover an intricate network of transitions between more than 30 discrete states. Our spatiotemporal data enable us to reconstruct the pinning energy landscape and to thereby explain the dynamics observed on a microscopic level. CCI massively expands the potential of emerging high-coherence X-ray sources and paves the way for addressing large fundamental questions such as the contribution of pinning5–8 and topology9–12 in phase transitions and the role of spin and charge order fluctuations in high-temperature superconductivity13,14

Voltage control of electrical, optical and magnetic properties of materials by solid state ionic transport and electrochemical reactions

Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, May, 2020Cataloged from the official PDF of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 139-153).Reversible post-fabrication control of material properties enables devices that can adapt to different needs or environmental conditions, and brings additional levels of functionality, paving the way towards applications such as reconfigurable electronics, reconfigurable antennas, active optical devices and energy efficient data storage. One promising way of achieving the controllability is through solid-state ionic transport and electrochemical reactions in thin film structures, where the properties of materials can be electrically controlled by a gate voltage in an addressable way. Here we explore using such ionic gating method to control the electrical, optical and magnetic properties of solid-state thin film layers, and show that large modification can be achieved for a wide range of properties. We demonstrate a new type of three terminal resistive switching device where the resistivity of a thin film conductive channel can be controlled by a gate voltage. We demonstrate solid-state ionic gating of the optical properties of metals and oxides and show the versatility of the approach by implementing voltage-controlled transmission, thin film interference, and switchable plasmonic colors. We also show that the approach allows for voltage control of ferrimagnetic order, demonstrating voltage induced 180-degree switching of the Néel vector, as a new way of magnetic bit writing. These findings extend the scope of voltage programmable materials and provide insights into the mechanisms of voltage controlled material properties by solid-state ionic transport and electrochemical reactions.by Mantao Huang.Ph. D.Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Materials Science and Engineerin

Voltage-gated optics and plasmonics enabled by solid-state proton pumping

Devices with locally-addressable and dynamically tunable optical properties underpin emerging technologies such as high-resolution reflective displays and dynamic holography. The optical properties of metals such as Y and Mg can be reversibly switched by hydrogen loading, and hydrogen-switched mirrors and plasmonic devices have been realized, but challenges remain to achieve electrical, localized and reversible control. Here we report a nanoscale solid-state proton switch that allows for electrical control of optical properties through electrochemical hydrogen gating. We demonstrate the generality and versatility of this approach by realizing tunability of a range of device characteristics including transmittance, interference color, and plasmonic resonance. We further discover and exploit a giant modulation of the effective refractive index of the gate dielectric. The simple gate structure permits device thickness down to ~20 nanometers, which can enable device scaling into the deep subwavelength regime, and has potential applications in addressable plasmonic devices and reconfigurable metamaterials.National Science Foundation (U.S.). Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers (Program) (Award DMR-1419807)United States. Department of Energy (Contract DE-SC0012704

Fast magneto-ionic switching of interface anisotropy using yttria-stabilized zirconia gate oxide

© 2020 American Chemical Society. Voltage control of interfacial magnetism has been greatly highlighted in spintronics research for many years, as it might enable ultralow power technologies. Among a few suggested approaches, magneto-ionic control of magnetism has demonstrated large modulation of magnetic anisotropy. Moreover, the recent demonstration of magneto-ionic devices using hydrogen ions presented relatively fast magnetization toggle switching, tsw ∼100 ms, at room temperature. However, the operation speed may need to be significantly improved to be used for modern electronic devices. Here, we demonstrate that the speed of proton-induced magnetization toggle switching largely depends on proton-conducting oxides. We achieve ∼1 ms reliable (>103 cycles) switching using yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), which is ∼100 times faster than the state-of-the-art magneto-ionic devices reported to date at room temperature. Our results suggest that further engineering of the proton-conducting materials could bring substantial improvement that may enable new low-power computing scheme based on magneto-ionics.Korea Institute of Science and Technology Institutional Program (Grant 2E29410, 2E30220)National Research Councilof Science and Technology (Korea) (Grant CAP-16-01-KIST)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Awards DMR-1419807, ECCS-1808828