1,498 research outputs found
Another spin in the wall : domain wall dynamics in perpendicularly magnetized devices
The world as we know it today would be completely different without spintronics. It has revolutionized the way we carry, store and exchange information in our daily lives. What is it? It is a research realm that combines the fundamental property of the electron, spin, and the charge property driving conventional electronics, hence: spin-tronics. Spintronics has until recently concentrated mainly on the manipulation of chargecurrent through the control of the magnetic state. Currently, a new paradigm has emerged that reverses this idea, basically by applying Newtonâs law of action implies reaction. Instead of manipulating the charge-current by the magnetic state, it manipulates the magnetic state by a spin-polarized current, and it is gradually gaining interest. Spin-polarized current induced motion of a magnetic domain wall is the subject of this thesis.We try to use a spin polarized current to push a magnetic domain wall. The interaction between spin-current and the magnetic domain wall is still an open area for exploration; there are still many unanswered questions on the fundamental physics that brings it about. The prospect of new data storage, memory and even bio-related devices makes it a very lively and competitive research topic possibly relevant in shaping our future world. We chose perpendicularly magnetized devices as our material, and for a reason. In this class of materials the magnetic domain walls are very narrow; and this, was our assumption, should increase the interaction between the spin polarized current and the magnetization. Our research has made use of a great variety of experimental and nano-fabrication techniques. Since the nano-fabrication techniques were particularly new to our research group, they have been given ample attention in chapter 2. The material used in our research are perpendicularly magnetized ultrathin Co(FeB) layers
Unidirectional magnetic coupling
We show that interlayer Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in combination with
non-local Gilbert damping gives rise to unidirectional magnetic coupling. That
is, the coupling between two magnetic layers -- say the left and right layer --
is such that dynamics of the left layer leads to dynamics of the right layer,
but not vice versa. We discuss the implications of this result for the magnetic
susceptibility of a magnetic bilayer, electrically-actuated spin-current
transmission, and unidirectional spin-wave packet generation and propagation.
Our results may enable a route towards spin-current and spin-wave diodes and
further pave the way to design spintronic devices via reservoir engineering.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure
Spin motive forces due to magnetic vortices and domain walls
We study spin motive forces, i.e, spin-dependent forces, and voltages induced
by time-dependent magnetization textures, for moving magnetic vortices and
domain walls. First, we consider the voltage generated by a one-dimensional
field-driven domain wall. Next, we perform detailed calculations on
field-driven vortex domain walls. We find that the results for the voltage as a
function of magnetic field differ between the one-dimensional and vortex domain
wall. For the experimentally relevant case of a vortex domain wall, the
dependence of voltage on field around Walker breakdown depends qualitatively on
the ratio of the so-called -parameter to the Gilbert damping constant,
and thus provides a way to determine this ratio experimentally. We also
consider vortices on a magnetic disk in the presence of an AC magnetic field.
In this case, the phase difference between field and voltage on the edge is
determined by the parameter, providing another experimental method to
determine this quantity.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, submitted to PR
Correlation between magnetism and spin-dependent transport in CoFeB alloys
We report a correlation between the spin polarization of the tunneling
electrons (TSP) and the magnetic moment of amorphous CoFeB alloys. Such a
correlation is surprising since the TSP involves s-like electrons close to the
Fermi level (EF), while the magnetic moment mainly arises due to all
d-electrons below EF. We show that probing the s and d-bands individually
provides clear and crucial evidence for such a correlation to exist through s-d
hybridization, and demonstrate the tuneability of the electronic and magnetic
properties of CoFeB alloys.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters. Letter (4 pages)
and Supplementary material (4 pages
Efficient Gold(I) Acyclic Diaminocarbenes for the Synthesis of Propargylamines and Indolizines
Mononuclear gold(I) acyclic diaminocarbenes (ADCs) were prepared by the reaction of 1, 2-cyclohexanediamine with the corresponding isocyanide complexes [AuCl(CNR)] (R = Cy, tBu). The three-component coupling of aldehydes, amines, and alkynes was investigated by using these gold(I) ADC complexes. The new gold(I) metal complexes are highly efficient catalysts for the synthesis of propargylamines and indolizines in the absence of solvent and in mild conditions. This method affords the corresponding final products with excellent yields in short reaction times. Additionally, chiral gold(I) complexes with ADCs have been prepared and tried in the enantioselective synthesis of propargylamines
Sputter grown Fe and Fe/Cr multilayers with fourfold magnetic anisotropy on GaAs
Thin films of Fe have been epitaxially sputtered on GaAs substrates with native oxide removal prior to the deposition carried out by an Ar ion milling. Films grown at substrate temperatures above 100 °C show well-defined fourfold anisotropies. The onset of epitaxial growth is accompanied by an increase in the surface roughness with growth occurring in a distinct island-like pattern. The Fe layers show significantly reduced moments, which decrease with increasing temperature. Antiferromagnetic coupling between Fe layers with Cr spacers was measured in a multilayer with a Cr thickness of 2.7 nm, around the second antiferromagnetic peak. The magnetic properties of the films are discussed in the context of multilayer storage applications
Substrate conformal imprint fabrication process of synthetic antiferromagnetic nanoplatelets
Methods to fabricate and characterize monodisperse magnetic nanoplatelets for
fluid/bio-based applications based on spintronic thin-film principles are a
challenge. This is due to the required top-down approach where the transfer of
optimized blanket films to free particles in a fluid while preserving the
magnetic properties is an uncharted field. Here, we explore the use of
substrate conformal imprint lithography (SCIL) as a fast and cost-effective
fabrication route. We analyze the size distribution of nominal 1.8 um and 120
nm diameter platelets and show the effect of the fabrication steps on the
magnetic properties which we explain through changes in the dominant
magnetization reversal mechanism as the size decreases. We show that SCIL
allows for efficient large-scale platelet fabrication and discuss how
application-specific requirements can be solved via process and material
engineering
A robust soliton ratchet using combined antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic interlayer couplings
A sharp magnetic soliton can be created and propagated in a vertical ratchet structure based on magnetic layers with out-of-plane anisotropy using a combination of antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic interlayer couplings. This allows the use of identical magnetic layers in the stack, which simplifies the implementation of the ratchet compared to schemes which use alternating layer thicknesses. The ratchet behavior is analyzed using an Ising-macrospin approximation and conditions are derived for the propagation of a soliton, which is demonstrated experimentally. Values extracted from the experimental data for the coercivities and interlayer couplings show significant variation, which demonstrates the robustness of the soliton propagation.This research was funded by the European Community under the Seventh Framework Program ERC Contract No. 247368: 3SPIN. R.L. acknowledges support from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (VENI 68047428). A.F.-P. acknowledges an EPSRC Early Career fellowship and support from the Winton Programme for the Physics of Sustainability.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from AIP via http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.491401
Boosting the Performance of WO3/nâSi Heterostructures for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting: from the Role of Si to Interface Engineering
Metal oxide/Si heterostructures make up an exciting design route to highâperformance electrodes for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. By monochromatic light sources, contributions of the individual layers in WO3/nâSi heterostructures are untangled. It shows that band bending near the WO3/nâSi interface is instrumental in charge separation and transport, and in generating a photovoltage that drives the PEC process. A thin metal layer inserted at the WO3/nâSi interface helps in establishing the relation among the band bending depth, the photovoltage, and the PEC activity. This discovery breaks with the dominant Zâscheme design idea, which focuses on increasing the conductivity of an interface layer to facilitate charge transport, but ignores the potential profile around the interface. Based on the analysis, a highâworkâfunction metal is predicted to provide the best interface layer in WO3/nâSi heterojunctions. Indeed, the fabricated WO3/Pt/nâSi photoelectrodes exhibit a 2 times higher photocurrent density at 1.23 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) and a 10 times enhancement at 1.6 V versus RHE compared to WO3/nâSi. Here, it is essential that the native SiO2 layer at the interface between Si and the metal is kept in order to prevent Fermi level pinning in the Schottky contact between the Si and the metal.</p
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