Picosecond Spin-Orbit Torque Induced Coherent Magnetization Switching in a Ferromagnet

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Polley, Debanjan, Pattabi, Akshay, Rastogi, Ashwin, Jhuria, Kaushalya, Diaz, Eva, Singh, Hanuman, Lemaitre, Aristide, Hehn, Michel, Gorchon, Jon, Bokor, Jeffrey
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2022
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author Polley, Debanjan
Pattabi, Akshay
Rastogi, Ashwin
Jhuria, Kaushalya
Diaz, Eva
Singh, Hanuman
Lemaitre, Aristide
Hehn, Michel
Gorchon, Jon
Bokor, Jeffrey
author_facet Polley, Debanjan
Pattabi, Akshay
Rastogi, Ashwin
Jhuria, Kaushalya
Diaz, Eva
Singh, Hanuman
Lemaitre, Aristide
Hehn, Michel
Gorchon, Jon
Bokor, Jeffrey
contents Electrically controllable non-volatile magnetic memories show great potential for the replacement of semiconductor-based technologies. Recently there has been strong interest in spin-orbit torque (SOT) induced magnetization reversal due to the device's increased lifetime and speed of operation. However, recent SOT switching studies reveal an incubation delay in the ~ns range due to stochasticity in the nucleation of a magnetic domain during reversal. Here, we experimentally demonstrate ultrafast SOT-induced magnetization switching dynamics of a ferromagnet with no incubation delay by avoiding the nucleation process and driving the magnetization coherently. We employ an ultrafast photo-conducting switch and a co-planar strip line to generate and guide ~ps current pulses into the heavy metal/ferromagnet layer stack and induce ultrafast SOT. We use magneto-optical probing to investigate the magnetization switching dynamics with sub-picosecond time resolution. Depending on the relative current pulse and in-plane magnetic field polarities, we observe either an ultrafast demagnetization and subsequent recovery along with a SOT-induced precessional oscillation, or ultrafast SOT switching. The magnetization zero-crossing occurs in ~70 ps, which is approximately an order of magnitude faster than previous studies. Complete switching needs ~250 ps and is limited by the heat diffusion to the substrate. We use a macro-magnetic simulation coupled with an ultrafast heating model to analyze the effect of ultrafast thermal anisotropy torque and current-induced torque in the observed dynamics. Good agreement between our experimental results and the macro-spin model shows that the switching dynamics are coherent and present no noticeable incubation delay. Our work suggests a potential pathway toward dramatically increasing the writing speed of SOT magnetic random-access memory devices.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2211_08266
institution arXiv
publishDate 2022
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Picosecond Spin-Orbit Torque Induced Coherent Magnetization Switching in a Ferromagnet
Polley, Debanjan
Pattabi, Akshay
Rastogi, Ashwin
Jhuria, Kaushalya
Diaz, Eva
Singh, Hanuman
Lemaitre, Aristide
Hehn, Michel
Gorchon, Jon
Bokor, Jeffrey
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Materials Science
Electrically controllable non-volatile magnetic memories show great potential for the replacement of semiconductor-based technologies. Recently there has been strong interest in spin-orbit torque (SOT) induced magnetization reversal due to the device's increased lifetime and speed of operation. However, recent SOT switching studies reveal an incubation delay in the ~ns range due to stochasticity in the nucleation of a magnetic domain during reversal. Here, we experimentally demonstrate ultrafast SOT-induced magnetization switching dynamics of a ferromagnet with no incubation delay by avoiding the nucleation process and driving the magnetization coherently. We employ an ultrafast photo-conducting switch and a co-planar strip line to generate and guide ~ps current pulses into the heavy metal/ferromagnet layer stack and induce ultrafast SOT. We use magneto-optical probing to investigate the magnetization switching dynamics with sub-picosecond time resolution. Depending on the relative current pulse and in-plane magnetic field polarities, we observe either an ultrafast demagnetization and subsequent recovery along with a SOT-induced precessional oscillation, or ultrafast SOT switching. The magnetization zero-crossing occurs in ~70 ps, which is approximately an order of magnitude faster than previous studies. Complete switching needs ~250 ps and is limited by the heat diffusion to the substrate. We use a macro-magnetic simulation coupled with an ultrafast heating model to analyze the effect of ultrafast thermal anisotropy torque and current-induced torque in the observed dynamics. Good agreement between our experimental results and the macro-spin model shows that the switching dynamics are coherent and present no noticeable incubation delay. Our work suggests a potential pathway toward dramatically increasing the writing speed of SOT magnetic random-access memory devices.
title Picosecond Spin-Orbit Torque Induced Coherent Magnetization Switching in a Ferromagnet
topic Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2211.08266