Abstract
The spin Hall effect in heavy metals converts charge current into pure spin current, which can be injected into an adjacent ferromagnet to exert a torque. This spin–orbit torque (SOT) has been widely used to manipulate the magnetization in metallic ferromagnets. In the case of magnetic insulators (MIs), although charge currents cannot flow, spin currents can propagate, but current-induced control of the magnetization in a MI has so far remained elusive. Here we demonstrate spin-current-induced switching of a perpendicularly magnetized thulium iron garnet film driven by charge current in a Pt overlayer. We estimate a relatively large spin-mixing conductance and damping-like SOT through spin Hall magnetoresistance and harmonic Hall measurements, respectively, indicating considerable spin transparency at the Pt/MI interface. We show that spin currents injected across this interface lead to deterministic magnetization reversal at low current densities, paving the road towards ultralow-dissipation spintronic devices based on MIs.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge support from C-SPIN, one of the six SRC STARnet Centers, sponsored by MARCO and DARPA. A.Q. acknowledges funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and from the Max-Planck-Institute of Microstructure Physics. C.O.A. and C.-F.P. thank K. Ueda and A. J. Tan for fruitful discussions.
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G.S.D.B. and C.A.R. proposed and supervised the study. C.O.A., M.M., C.-F.P. and G.S.D.B. designed the transport experiments. A.Q., A.S.T. and M.C.O. fabricated the TmIG samples. A.Q. performed structural and magnetic analysis. M.M. carried out photolithography processing. C.O.A., M.M. and A.Q. carried out transport measurements. M.M. and L.C. designed and established the electrical measurement equipment.
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Avci, C., Quindeau, A., Pai, CF. et al. Current-induced switching in a magnetic insulator. Nature Mater 16, 309–314 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4812
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4812
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