Mahdi Jamali

Spin-orbit torques in Co/Pd multilayer nanowires

Current induced spin-orbit torques have been studied in ferromagnetic nanowires made of 20 nm thick Co/Pd multilayers with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Using Hall voltage and lock-in measurements, it is found that upon injection of an electric current both in-plane (Slonczewski-like) and perpendicular (fieldlike) torques build up in the nanowire. The torque efficiencies are found to be as large as 1.17 and 5 kOe at 10(8)u2009u2009A/cm2 for the in-plane and perpendicular components, respectively, which is surprisingly comparable to previous studies in ultrathin (∼1u2009u2009nm) magnetic bilayers. We show that this result cannot be explained solely by spin Hall effect induced torque at the outer interfaces, indicating a probable contribution of the bulk of the Co/Pd multilayer.

Spin wave nonreciprocity for logic device applications.

The utilization of spin waves as eigenmodes of the magnetization dynamics for information processing and communication has been widely explored recently due to its high operational speed with low power consumption and possible applications for quantum computations. Previous proposals of spin wave Mach-Zehnder devices were based on the spin wave phase, a delicate entity which can be easily disrupted. Here, we propose a complete logic system based on the spin wave amplitude utilizing the nonreciprocal spin wave behavior excited by microstrip antennas. The experimental data reveal that the nonreciprocity of magnetostatic surface spin wave can be tuned by the bias magnetic field. Furthermore, engineering of the device structure could result in a high nonreciprocity factor for spin wave logic applications.

Spin wave assisted current induced magnetic domain wall motion

The interaction between the propagating spin waves and the current driven motion of a transverse domain wall in magnetic nanowires is studied by micromagnetic simulations. If the speed of domain walls due to current induced spin transfer torque is comparable to the velocity driven by spin waves, the speed of domain wall is improved by applying spin waves. The domain wall velocity can be manipulated by the frequency and amplitude of spin waves. The effect of spin waves is suppressed in the high current density regime in which the domain wall is mostly driven by current induced spin transfer torque.

Precessional magnetization induced spin current from CoFeB into Ta

The spin dynamics at the interface between the CoFeB and Ta layer has been studied using spin pumping and spin wave characterizations. The spin pumping driven by the ferromagnetic resonance in the CoFeB layer injects a spin current into Ta layer which results in an electromotive force across the Ta layer due to the inverse spin Hall effect. Upon changing the polarity of the bias magnetic field, the polarity of the output voltage inverts and the output voltage increases linearly in respect to the microwave signal power which are consistent with the spin pumping characteristics. The effect of the in-plane magnetization angle on the output voltage has been studied. Furthermore, it is found that the frequency spectrum of the spin Hall voltage is modified by the annealing temperature and the full width at half maximum of the spin pumping increases by more than 40% with the increase of the annealing temperature from 200 °C to 300 °C. The spin Hall angle at the Ta-CoFeB interface is determined to be 0.014, and the damping constant of the CoFeB increases from 0.006 in pure CoFeB to 0.015 in Ta/CoFeB film.

Phononic dispersion of a two-dimensional chessboard-patterned bicomponent array on a substrate

Brillouin measurements of the dispersion relations of surface acoustic- and optical-like waves along Γ-M and Γ-X symmetry directions in a two-dimensional bicomponent nanostructured crystal are reported. The sample, in the form of a periodic chessboard array of alternating Permalloy and cobalt square dots on a SiO2/Si substrate, was fabricated using high-resolution electron-beam lithographic, sputtering, etching, and lift-off techniques. The measured phononic band structures exhibit diverse features, such as a partial hybridization bandgap and unusual surface optical-like phonon branches, where there are out-of-phase vibrational characteristics between nearest-neighbor dots. Numerical simulations, based on the finite element analysis, reproduced the experimental dispersion relations.

Spin waves interference from rising and falling edges of electrical pulses

The authors have investigated the effect of the electrical pulse width of input excitations on the generated spin waves in a NiFe strip using pulse inductive time domain measurements. The authors have shown that the spin waves resulting from the rising- and the falling-edges of input excitation pulses interfere either constructively or destructively and have provided conditions for obtaining spin wave packets with maximum intensity at different bias conditions.

Interference-mediated modulation of spin waves

The modulation of propagating spin-wave amplitude in Ni81Fe19 (Py) films, resulting from constructive and destructive interference of spin wave, has been demonstrated. Spin waves were excited and detected inductively using pulse inductive time domain measurements. Two electrical impulses were used for launching two interfering Gaussian spin wave packets in Py films. The applied bias magnetic field or the separation between two pulses was used for tuning the amplitude of the resulting spin wave packets. This may thus be useful for spin wave based low-power information transfer and processing.

Metastable magnetic domain wall dynamics

The dynamics of metastable magnetic domain walls in straight ferromagnetic nanowires under spin waves, external magnetic fields and current- induced spin-transfer torque are studied by means of micromagnetic simulations. It is found that in contrast to a stable wall, it is possible to displace a metastable domain wall in the absence of external excitation. In addition, independent of the domain wall excitation method, the velocity of a metastable wall is much smaller than that of a stable wall and its displacement direction could be different from that of the stable wall depending on the structure of metastable walls. Under current-induced spin-transfer torque excitation, the direction of domain wall displacement is directly related to the intensity of non-adiabatic spin-transfer torque. In a rough nanowire, it is found that the displacement of a metastable wall could happen much below the critical excitation of a stable wall. Furthermore, we show that it is possible to have either a forward or a backward displacement of a metastable domain wall by changing the pulse width of the excitation.

Effect of nonadiabatic spin transfer torque on domain wall resonance frequency and mass

The dynamics of a magnetic domain wall in a semi circular nanowire loop is studied by an analytical model and micromagnetic simulations. We find a damped sinusoidal oscillation of the domain wall for small displacement angles around its equilibrium position under an external magnetic field in the absence of currents. By studying the effect of current induced nonadiabatic spin transfer torque on the magnetic domain wall resonance frequency and mass, a redshift is found in the resonance frequency and domain wall mass increases by increasing the ratio of nonadiabatic spin torque to adiabatic contribution above 1.

Detection of domain wall eigenfrequency in infinity-shaped magnetic nanostructures

The dynamics of a magnetic infinity-shaped nanostructure has been experimentally studied by two different techniques such as the sinusoidal resonance excitation and the damped short pulse excitation to measure the eigenfrequency of domain walls. Direct observation of the magnetic domain wall nucleation has been measured in the frequency domain. Electrical measurements of the domain wall dynamics in the frequency domain reveal the existence of multi-eigenmodes for large excitation amplitudes. The time-resolved measurements show that the frequency of the damped gyration is similar to that of the frequency domain and indicate coexistence of spin wave excitations.