Rong Shan

Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in Mn2CoAl thin film

Heusler compound Mn2CoAl (MCA) is attracting more attentions due to many novel properties, such as high resistance, semiconducting behavior and suggestion as a spin-gapless material with a low magnetic moment. In this work, Mn2CoAl epitaxial thin film was prepared on MgO(100) substrate by magnetron sputtering. The transport property of the film exhibits a semiconducting-like behavior. Moreover, our research reveals that perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) can be induced in very thin Mn2CoAl films resulting from Mn-O and Co-O bonding at Mn2CoAl/MgO interface, which coincides with a recent theoretical prediction. PMA and low saturation magnetic moment could lead to large spin-transfer torque with low current density in principle, and thus our work may bring some unanticipated Heusler compounds into spintronics topics such as the domain wall motion and the current-induced magnetization reversal.

Manipulating effective spin orbit coupling based on proximity effect in magnetic bilayers

A proximity effect of spin orbit coupling (SOC) is proposed in nonmagnetic metal/ferromagnet (NM/FM) bilayers by extending the Crepieux-Bruno (CB) theory. We demonstrate that over 1000% enhancement of the SOC strength can be realized based on this effect (Pt/FM bilayers) and it brings greatly enhanced anomalous Hall effect and anomalous Nernst effect. This work could help maximize the performance of magnetic transport property for the spintronics device using NM/FM as the key structure.

Critical anomalous Hall behavior in Pt/Co/Pt trilayers grown on paper with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy

Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy was observed in Pt/Co/Pt trilayers prepared on three kinds of paper substrates with conspicuous difference of roughness by sputtering. Anomalous Hall effect exhibits well magnetic transport properties for partial samples. The trends of Hall resistivity over longitudinal resistivity (ρAH/ρxx) versus ρxx are bending instead of a traditional linear relationship for thick single-layer Co films. Further, study reveals that this behavior strongly depends on ratios among contributions from the skew scattering induced by residual resistance and phonons, the side jump and the intrinsic parts in anomalous Hall effect. A 3D map of correlation coefficients (R) of ρAH/ρxx and ρxx shows the ratios locate at a critical and ultra-narrow area for our trilayers. This study may throw new light on the understanding of anomalous Hall effect as well as lead to an economical and practical method to fabricate Hall devices on flexible substrates.

Origin of enhanced anomalous Hall effect in ultrathin Pt/permalloy bilayers

There are two mechanisms which could enhance spin-dependent scattering in a low dimensional Pt/Ferromagnetic metal structure. One is magnetic proximity effect. The other is spin orbit coupling proximity effect which was suggested recently. This work demonstrates that, through a series of experiments on anomalous Hall effect, the spin orbit coupling proximity effect dominates the enhancement in very thin Pt/Permalloy bilayers. It may help to find a way to optimize magnetic transport property of spintronics devices in which the spin orbit coupling is deeply involved.

Structural, magnetic, and transport properties of Fe-doped CoTiSb epitaxial thin films

Epitaxial intrinsic and Fe-doped CoTiSb thin films with C1b structure were grown on MgO(100) substrates by magnetron sputtering. The semiconducting-like behavior in both intrinsic and Fe-doped thin films was demonstrated by temperature dependence of longitudinal resistivity. The Fe-doped CoTiSb films with a wide range of doping concentrations can maintain semiconducting-like and magnetic properties simultaneously, while the semiconducting behavior is weakening with the increasing Fe concentration. For 21 at. % Fe-doped film, low lattice magnetic moment (around 0.65 μB) and high resistivity (larger than 800 μΩ cm) are beneficial to its application as a magnetic electrode in spintronic devices. Anomalous Hall effect of 21 at. % Fe-doped film was also investigated and its behaviors can be treated well by recent-reported anomalous Hall scaling including the contribution of spin-phonon skew scattering.

A novel method to evaluate spin diffusion length of Pt

Abstract Spin diffusion length of Pt is evaluated via proximity effect of spin orbit coupling (SOC) and anomalous Hall effect (AHE) in Pt/Co 2 FeAl bilayers. By varying the thicknesses of Pt and Co 2 FeAl layer, the thickness dependences of AHE parameters can be obtained, which are theoretically predicted to be proportional to the square of the SOC strength. According to the physical image of the SOC proximity effect, the spin diffusion length of Pt can easily be identified from these thickness dependences. This work provides a novel method to evaluate spin diffusion length in a material with a small value.