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Out-of-plane spin polarization {\sigma}_z has attracted increasing interests of researchers recently, due to its potential in high-density and low-power spintronic devices. Noncollinear antiferromagnet (AFM), which has unique 120{\deg} triangular spin configuration, has been discovered to possess {\sigma}_z. However, the physical origin of {\sigma}_z in noncollinear AFM is still not clear, and the external magnetic field-free switching of perpendicular magnetic layer using the corresponding {\sigma}_z has not been reported yet. Here, we use the cluster magnetic octupole in antiperovskite AFM Mn3SnN to demonstrate the generation of {\sigma}_z. {\sigma}_z is induced by the precession of carrier spins when currents flow through the cluster magnetic octupole, which also relies on the direction of the cluster magnetic octupole in conjunction with the applied current. With the aid of {\sigma}_z, current induced spin-orbit torque (SOT) switching of adjacent perpendicular ferromagnet is realized without external magnetic field. Our findings present a new perspective to the generation of out-of-plane spin polarizations via noncollinear AFM spin structure, and provide a potential path to realize ultrafast high-density applications., Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures, accepted by Nat. Commun

To broaden the scope of van der Waals 2D magnets, we report the synthesis and magnetism of covalent 2D magnetic Cr$_2$Te$_3$ with a thickness down to one-unit-cell. The 2D Cr$_2$Te$_3$ crystals exhibit robust ferromagnetism with a Curie temperature of 180 K, a large perpendicular anisotropy of 7*105 J m-3, and a high coercivity of ~ 4.6 kG at 20 K. First-principles calculations further show a transition from canted to collinear ferromagnetism, a transition from perpendicular to in-plane anisotropy, and emergent half-metallic behavior in atomically-thin Cr$_2$Te$_3$, suggesting its potential application for injecting carriers with high spin polarization into spintronic devices.

The interconversion of charge and spin currents via spin-Hall effect is essential for spintronics. Energy-efficient and deterministic switching of magnetization can be achieved when spin polarizations of these spin currents are collinear with the magnetization. However, symmetry conditions generally restrict spin polarizations to be orthogonal to both the charge and spin flows. Spin polarizations can deviate from such direction in nonmagnetic materials only when the crystalline symmetry is reduced. Here, we show control of the spin polarization direction by using a non-collinear antiferromagnet Mn3GaN, in which the triangular spin structure creates a low magnetic symmetry while maintaining a high crystalline symmetry. We demonstrate that epitaxial Mn3GaN/permalloy heterostructures can generate unconventional spin-orbit torques at room temperature corresponding to out-of-plane and Dresselhaus-like spin polarizations which are forbidden in any sample with two-fold rotational symmetry. Our results demonstrate an approach based on spin-structure design for controlling spin-orbit torque, enabling high-efficient antiferromagnetic spintronics., In the typical spin-hall effect, spin-current, charge current, and spin polarisation are all mutually perpendicular, a feature enforced by symmetry. Here, using an anti-ferromagnet with a triangular spin structure, the authors demonstrate a spin-hall effect without a perpendicular spin alignment.

In this study, an experimentally synthesized DHM LaNiO3 is discovered with many Dirac cones and complete spin polarization near the Fermi level via first principles; it is also shown that the crystal structures of these materials are strongly correlated with their physical properties., In the past three years, Dirac half-metals (DHMs) have attracted considerable attention and become a high-profile topic in spintronics becuase of their excellent physical properties such as 100% spin polarization and massless Dirac fermions. Two-dimensional DHMs proposed recently have not yet been experimentally synthesized and thus remain theoretical. As a result, their characteristics cannot be experimentally confirmed. In addition, many theoretically predicted Dirac materials have only a single cone, resulting in a nonlinear electromagnetic response with insufficient intensity and inadequate transport carrier efficiency near the Fermi level. Therefore, after several attempts, we have focused on a novel class of DHMs with multiple Dirac crossings to address the above limitations. In particular, we direct our attention to three-dimensional bulk materials. In this study, the discovery via first principles of an experimentally synthesized DHM LaNiO3 with many Dirac cones and complete spin polarization near the Fermi level is reported. It is also shown that the crystal structures of these materials are strongly correlated with their physical properties. The results indicate that many rhombohedral materials with the general formula LnNiO3 (Ln = La, Ce, Nd, Pm, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Lu) in the space group R 3 c are potential DHMs with multiple Dirac cones.

We theoretically investigate spin polarization for electrons in magnetically and electrically confined semiconductor microstructure, which is constructed by patterning a ferromagnetic stripe and a Schottky-metal stripe on top and bottom of GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs heterostructure, respectively. Both Zeeman interaction and spin–orbit coupling are taken into account; however, electron-spin polarization comes mainly from the latter due to a small effective g-factor for GaAs. Besides, both magnitude and sign of spin polarization can be manipulated by changing interfacial confining electric field or strain engineering, resulting in a tunable electron-spin filter for spintronics device applications.

It is now well established that the peculiar linear-in-momentum dependence of the Rashba (and of the Dresselhaus) spin-orbit coupling leads to the vanishing of the spin Hall conductivity in the bulk of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG). In this paper we discuss how generic magnetic couplings change this behaviour providing then a potential handle on the spin Hall effect. In particular we examine the influence of magnetic impurities and an in-plane magnetic field. We find that in both cases there is a finite spin Hall effect and we provide explicit expressions for the spin Hall conductivity. The results can be obtained by means of the quasiclassical Green function approach, that we have recently extended to spin-orbit coupled electron systems.

The behavior of spin for incoherently hopping carriers is critical to understand in a variety of systems such as organic semiconductors, amorphous semiconductors, and muon-implanted materials. This work specifically examined the spin relaxation of hopping spin/charge carriers through a cubic lattice in the presence of varying degrees of energy disorder when the carrier spin is treated classically and random spin rotations are suffered during the hopping process (to mimic spin–orbit coupling effects) instead of during the wait time period (which would be more appropriate for hyperfine coupling). The problem was studied under a variety of different assumptions regarding the hopping rates and the random local fields. In some cases, analytic solutions for the spin relaxation rate were obtained. In all the models, we found that exponentially distributed energy disorder led to a drastic reduction in spin polarization losses that fell nonexponentially.

A novel spin gapless semiconductor material Ba2MnTeO6 is found and reported by first-principles calculations. In this paper, we study the influence of spin orbit coupling, strain and Coulomb interaction on the properties of ferromagnetic Ba2MnTeO6 in order to test the stability of physical properties. It turns out that the spin orbit coupling has no significant effect on the electronic structures of the Ba2MnTeO6 at equilibrium state. Under the action of uniform compressive strain and tensile strain, Ba2MnTeO6 transforms from spin gapless semiconductor to semiconductor and half-metal respectively. At the same time, as the strain increases, the semiconductor band gap gradually widens, and the half-metallic gap gradually narrows. After considering Coulomb interaction, Ba2MnTeO6 will also be transformed into a semiconductor, and the semiconductor band gap will increase with the increasing of U values. Furthermore, the mechanical performance studies show that Ba2MnTeO6 is an anisotropic material with stable structure. As the first pure double perovskite type spin gapless semiconductor, the high spin polarization and accurately adjustable physical properties of ferromagnetic Ba2MnTeO6 indicate that it has broad application prospects in the fields of spintronics and optoelectronic materials and devices.

The development of materials that are non-magnetic in the bulk but exhibit two-dimensional (2D) magnetism at the surface is at the core of spintronics applications. Here, we present the valence-fluctuating material EuIrSi, where in contrast to its non-magnetic bulk, the Si-terminated surface reveals controllable 2D ferromagnetism. Close to the surface the Eu ions prefer a magnetic divalent configuration and their large 4f moments order below 48 K. The emerging exchange interaction modifies the spin polarization of the 2D surface electrons originally induced by the strong Rashba effect. The temperature-dependent mixed valence of the bulk allows to tune the energy and momentum size of the projected band gaps to which the 2D electrons are confined. This gives an additional degree of freedom to handle spin-polarized electrons at the surface. Our findings disclose valence-fluctuating rare-earth based materials as a very promising basis for the development of systems with controllable 2D magnetic properties which is of interest both for fundamental science and applications., This work was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) through Grants No. KR3831/5-1, No. LA655/20-1 and Fermi-NEst. Support was provided by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (Project No. FIS2016-76617-P and No. FIS2016-75862-P). We acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy (MAT-2017-88374-P). The authors also acknowledge support by Saint Petersburg State University (Grant No. 15.61.202.2015) and Tomsk State University Academic D. I. Mendeleev Fund Program (Research Grant No. 8.1.01.2018). We acknowledge Diamond Light Source for access to beamline I05 (proposals no. SI18844-1 and SI17761-1) that contributed to the results presented here.

Spin-transfer torque (STT) and spin-orbit torque (SOT) are spintronic phenomena allowing magnetization manipulation using electrical currents. Beyond their fundamental interest, they allow developing new classes of magnetic memories and logic devices, in particular based on domain wall (DW) motion. In this work, we report the study of STT driven DW motion in ferrimagnetic manganese nickel nitride (Mn4-xNixN) films, in which a fine adjustment of the Ni content allows setting the magnetic compensation at room temperature. The reduced magnetization, combined with the large spin polarization of conduction electrons, strongly enhances the STT so that domain wall velocities approaching 3000 m/s can be obtained for Ni compositions close to the compensation point. In addition, a reversal of the domain wall motion direction is observed when the magnetic compensation composition is crossed. This striking feature, related to the change of direction of the spin polarization with respect to that of the net magnetization, is clarified by ab initio band structure calculations., Comment: 24 pages, 4 figures

The complex oxide heterostructures such as LaAlO3/SrTiO3 (LAO/STO) interface are paradigmatic platforms to explore emerging multi-degrees of freedom coupling and the associated exotic phenomena. In this study, we reveal the effects of multiorbital and magnetic ordering on Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) at the LAO/STO (001) interface. Based on first-principles calculations, we show that the Rashba spin splitting near the conduction band edge can be tuned substantially by the interfacial insulator-metal transition due to the multiorbital effect of the lowest t_2g bands. We further unravel a competition between Rashba SOC and intrinsic magnetism, in which the Rashba SOC induced spin polarization is suppressed by the interfacial magnetic ordering. These results deepen our understanding of intricate electronic and magnetic reconstruction at the perovskite oxide interfaces and shed light on the engineering of oxide heterostructures for all-oxides-based spintronic devices., 24 pages, 4 figures

Magnetism of graphene can be created by atomic defects, either hydrogen adsorption or single-carbon vacancy formation, owing to the unpaired $\ensuremath{\pi}$ electrons around the defects. Here we explore, based on rigorous first principles calculations, the possibility of voltage manipulation of two such types of $\ensuremath{\pi}$ magnetism in graphene via a scanning tunneling microscope tip. We find a remarkably different behavior. For the hydrogen, the magnetic moment can be switched on and off with voltage-induced doping, whereas, for the carbon vacancy, the spin splitting of the $\ensuremath{\pi}$ bands persists, almost independent of the extent of doping, due to the coupling between the $\ensuremath{\pi}$ and the $\ensuremath{\sigma}$ bonds. Furthermore, the local atomic structures near the vacancy can be reversibly manipulated by a coordination mechanism between an intermediate tip-defect distance and a moderate tip voltage, consequently leading to the reversal of spin polarization of the $\ensuremath{\pi}$ bands. Voltage control of the local magnetic states may open a new avenue for potential applications in spintronics.

We have studied theoretically the properties of electrical current and tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) through a serially connected double quantum dot (DQD) sandwiched between two ferromagnetic leads by using the nonequilibrium Green’s function technique. We consider that each of the DQD couples to one mode of the Majorana bound states (MBSs) formed at the ends of a topological superconductor nanowire with spin-dependent coupling strength. By adjusting the sign of the spin polarization of dot–MBS coupling strength and the arrangement of magnetic moments of the two leads, the currents’ magnitude can be effectively enhanced or suppressed. Under some conditions, a negative TMR emerges which is useful in detection of the MBSs, a research subject currently under extensive investigations. Moreover, the amplitude of the TMR can be adjusted in a large regime by variation of several system parameters, such as direct hybridization strength between the MBSs or the dots and the positions of the dots’ energy levels. Such tunable currents and TMR may also find use in high-efficiency spintronic devices or information processes.

Due to their peculiar quasiparticle excitations, topological metals have high potential for applications in the fields of spintronics, catalysis, and superconductivity. Here, by combining spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy, and density functional theory, we discover surface-termination-dependent topological electronic states in the recently discovered mitrofanovite Pt3Te4. Mitrofanovite crystal is formed by alternating, van der Waals bound layers of Pt2Te2 and PtTe2. Our results demonstrate that mitrofanovite is a topological metal with termination-dependent (i) electronic band structure and (ii) spin texture. Despite their distinct electronic character, both surface terminations are characterized by electronic states exhibiting strong spin polarization with a node at the Γ point and sign reversal across the Γ point, indicating their topological nature and the possibility of realizing two distinct electronic configurations (both of them with topological features) on the surface of the same material.

Based on density functional theory and non-equilibrium Green’s function formalism, we explore the effect of Fe atom in Au-Fe@C20-Au monomer and dimer systems in comparison with the C20 fullerene molecular junctions. We calculate the spin-dependent transmission coefficient, spin polarization and also their spin thermoelectric coefficients to investigate magnetic properties in the system. Our results indicate that the presence of Fe atoms enhances substantially the spin-filter and increases the spin figure of merit in the dimer system. We suggest that the Au-(Fe@C20)2-Au system is a suitable junction for designing spin-filtering and spin thermoelectric devices and eventually it is a good candidate for spintronic applications.

We discuss the correspondence between the current-induced spin polarization in non-centrosymmetric magnetic metals and the linear magnetoelectric effect in non-centrosymmetric magnetic insulators using a linear-response theory and the concept of magnetoelectric multipoles. We show that the magnetoelectric toroidal moment is a particularly useful quantity since it determines the ground-state antiferromagnetic domain of a non-centrosymmetric antiferromagnet in the presence of a steady-state electric current. We analyze two prototypical antiferromagnetic spintronic materials- Mn 2 Au and CuMnAs-and show that the experimentally reported domain reorientations are consistent with the alignment of their toroidal moments parallel to the applied electric current. Finally, we determine whether similar behavior should be expected in the prototypical insulating magnetoelectric materials, Cr 2 O 3 and Li M PO 4, if they could be doped into a semiconducting or metallic regime. ISSN:0021-8979 ISSN:1089-7550

Josephson junctions containing three ferromagnetic layers with non-collinear magnetizations between adjacent layers carry spin-triplet supercurrent under certain conditions. The signature of the spin-triplet supercurrent is a relatively slow decay of the maximum supercurrent as a function of the thickness of the middle ferromagnetic layer. In this work we focus on junctions where the middle magnetic layer is a [Co/Pd]$_N$ multilayer with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA), while the outer two layers have in-plane anisotropy. We compare junctions where the middle PMA layer is or is not configured as a synthetic antiferromagnet (PMA-SAF). We find that the supercurrent decays much more rapidly with increasing the number $N$ of [Co/Pd] bilayers in the PMA-SAF junctions compared to the PMA junctions. Similar behavior is observed in junctions containing [Co/Ni]$_N$ PMA multilayers. We model that behavior by assuming that each Co/Pd or Co/Ni interface acts as a partial spin filter, so that the spin-triplet supercurrent in the PMA junctions becomes more strongly spin-polarized as $N$ increases while the supercurrent in the PMA-SAF junctions is suppressed with increasing $N$. We also address a question raised in a previous work regarding how much spin-singlet supercurrent is transmitted through our nominally spin-triplet junctions. We do that by comparing spin-triplet junctions with similar junctions where the order of the magnetic layers has been shuffled. The results of this work are expected to be helpful in designing spin-triplet Josephson junctions for use in cryogenic memory., 9 pages, 5 figures

Chiral induced spin selectivity (CISS) describes efficient spin filtering by chiral molecules. This phenomenon has led to nanoscale manipulation of quantum spins with promising applications to spintronics and quantum computing, since its discovery nearly two decades ago. However, its underlying mechanism still remains mysterious for the required spin-orbit interaction (SOI) strength is unexpectedly large. Here we report a multi-orbital theory for CISS, where an effective SOI emerges from spontaneous formation of electron-hole pairing caused by many-body correlation. This mechanism produces a strong SOI to the order of tens of milielectronvolts which could support the large spin polarization observed in CISS at room temperature. One central ingredient of our theory is the Wannier functions of the valence and conduction bands correspond respectively to one- and two-dimensional representation of the spatial rotation symmetry around the molecule elongation direction. The induced SOI strength is found to decrease when the band gap increases. Our theory may provide important guidance for searching other molecules with CISS effects., 12 pages, 5 figures

Determining the detailed spin texture of topological surface states is important when one wants to apply topological insulators in spintronic devices. In principle, the in-plane spin component of the surface states can be measured by a method analogous to the so-called Meservey-Tedrow technique. In the present work we suggest that the out-of-plane spin component can be determined by spin Hall effect tunneling spectroscopy. We derive an analytical formula that allows to extract the out-of-plane spin component from spin Hall effect tunneling spectra. We test our formula using realistic tight-binding models of Bi$_2$Se$_3$ and Sb$_2$Te$_3$. We demonstrate that the extracted out-of-plane spin polarization is in very good agreement with the actual out-of-plane spin polarization.

Relativistic heavy-ion collisions create hot quark-gluon plasma as well as very strong electromagnetic (EM) and fluid vortical fields. The strong EM field and vorticity can induce intriguing macroscopic quantum phenomena such as chiral magnetic, chiral separation, chiral electric separation, and chiral vortical effects as well as the spin polarization of hadrons. These phenomena provide us with experimentally feasible means to study the nontrivial topological sector of quantum chromodynamics, the possible parity violation of strong interaction at high temperature, and the subatomic spintronics of quark-gluon plasma. These studies, both in theory and in experiments, are strongly connected with other subfields of physics such as condensed matter physics, astrophysics, and cold atomic physics, and thus form an emerging interdisciplinary research area. We give an introduction to the aforementioned phenomena induced by the EM field and vorticity and an overview of the current status of their experimental research in heavy-ion collisions. We also briefly discuss spin hydrodynamics as well as chiral and spin kinetic theories., 35 pages, 13 figures. A review article for Nucl. Sci. Tech. Published version

Efficient conversion of a spin signal into an electric voltage in mainstream semiconductors is one of the grand challenges of spintronics. This process is commonly achieved via a ferromagnetic tunnel barrier where non-linear electric transport occurs. In this work, we demonstrate that non-linearity may lead to a spin-to-charge conversion efficiency larger than 10 times the spin polarization of the tunnel barrier when the latter is under bias of a few mV. We identify the underlying mechanisms responsible for this remarkably efficient spin detection as the tunnel barrier deformation and the conduction band shift resulting from a change of applied voltage. In addition, we derive an approximate analytical expression for the detector spin sensitivity $P_{\textrm{det}}(V)$. Calculations performed for different barrier shapes show that this enhancement is present in oxide barriers as well as in Schottky tunnel barriers even if the dominant mechanisms differs with the barrier type. Moreover, although the spin signal is reduced at high temperatures, it remains superior to the value predicted by the linear model. Our findings shed light into the interpretation and understanding of electrical spin detection experiments and open new paths to optimize the performance of spin transport devices., 11 pages, 9 figures

Renewed interest in the ferroelectric semi-conductor germanium telluride was recently triggered by the direct observation of a giant Rashba effect and a 30-year-old dream about a functional spin field-effect transistor. In this respect, all-electrical control of the spin texture in this material in combination with ferroelectric properties at the nanoscale would create advanced functionalities in spintronics and data information processing. Here, we investigate the atomic and electronic properties of GeTe bulk single crystals and their (111) surfaces. We succeeded in growing crystals possessing solely inversion domains of similar to 10 nm thickness parallel to each other. Using HAADF-TEM we observe two types of domain boundaries, one of them being similar in structure to the van der Waals gap in layered materials. This structure is responsible for the formation of surface domains with preferential Te-termination (similar to 68%) as we determined using photoelectron diffraction and XPS. The lateral dimensions of the surface domains are in the range of similar to 10-100 nm, and both Ge- and Te-terminations reveal no reconstruction. Using spin-ARPES we establish an intrinsic quantitative relationship between the spin polarization of pure bulk states and the relative contribution of different terminations, a result that is consistent with a reversal of the spin texture of the bulk Rashba bands for opposite configurations of the ferroelectric polarization within individual nanodomains. Our findings are important for potential applications of ferroelectric Rashba semiconductors in nonvolatile spintronic devices with advanced memory and computing capabilities at the nanoscale.

International audience; An analysis of magnetic symmetry groups in antiferromagnets points to a new class of materials that will be useful for spintronics.

Magnetic Weyl semimetals are a newly discovered class of topological materials that may serve as a platform for exotic phenomena, such as axion insulators or the quantum anomalous Hall effect. Here, we use angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio calculations to discover Weyl cones in CoS2, a ferromagnet with pyrite structure that has been long studied as a candidate for half-metallicity, which makes it an attractive material for spintronic devices. We directly observe the topological Fermi arc surface states that link the Weyl nodes, which will influence the performance of CoS2 as a spin injector by modifying its spin polarization at interfaces. In addition, we directly observe a minority-spin bulk electron pocket in the corner of the Brillouin zone, which proves that CoS2 cannot be a true half-metal., This work was supported by NSF through the Princeton Center for Complex Materials, a Materials Research Science and Engineering Center DMR-1420541, by Princeton University through the Princeton Catalysis Initiative, and by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation through grant GBMF9064 to L.M.S. F.d.J. acknowledges funding from the Spanish MCI/AEI through grant no. PGC2018-101988-B-C21. M.G.V. and F.J. acknowledge funding from the Basque Government through grant PIBA 2019-81. M.G.V. and I.R. acknowledge the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (grant number PID2019-109905GB-C21). N.B.M.S. was supported by Microsoft. A.B. acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2019-105488GB-I00). The work of S.S. was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation under grant no. 159690. D.P. acknowledges the support from the Chinese Scholarship Council. J.A.K. acknowledges support by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF-Grant no. 200021_165910).

Spin-split Rashba bands have been exploited to efficiently control the spin degree of freedom of moving electrons, which possesses a great potential in frontier applications of designing spintronic devices and processing spin-based information. Given an intrinsic breaking of inversion symmetry and sizeable spin–orbit interaction, two-dimensional (2D) surface alloys formed by heavy metal elements exhibit a pronounced Rashba-type spin splitting of the surface states. Here, we have revealed the essential role of atomic orbital symmetry in the hexagonally warped Rashba spin-split surface state of the $$\sqrt 3 \times \sqrt 3 R30^0$$ 3 × 3 R 3 0 0 BiCu2 monatomic alloy by scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) and density functional theory (DFT). From dI/dU spectra and calculated band structures, three hole-like Rashba-split bands hybridized from distinct orbital symmetries have been identified in the unoccupied energy region. Because of the hexagonally deformed Fermi surface, quasi-particle interference (QPI) mappings have resolved scattering channels opened from interband transitions of px,py (mj = 1/2) band. In contrast to the s,pz-derived band, the hexagonal warping is predominately accompanied by substantial out-of-plane spin polarization Sz up to 24% in the dispersion of px,py (mj = 1/2) band with an in-plane orbital symmetry.

We develop a theory for spin transport and magnetization dynamics in a quantum dot spin valve, i.e., two magnetic reservoirs coupled to a quantum dot. Our theory is able to take into account effects of strong correlations. We demonstrate that, as a result of these strong correlations, the dot gate voltage enables control over the current-induced torques on the magnets and, in particular, enables voltage-controlled magnetic switching. The electrical resistance of the structure can be used to read out the magnetic state. Our model may be realized by a number of experimental systems, including magnetic scanning-tunneling microscope tips and artificial quantum dot systems.

We study the electronic waiting time distributions (WTDs) in a non-interacting quantum dot spin valve by varying spin polarization and the noncollinear angle between the magnetizations of the leads using scattering matrix approach. Since the quantum dot spin valve involves two channels (spin up and down) in both the incoming and outgoing channels, we study three different kinds of WTDs, which are two-channel WTD, spin-resolved single-channel WTD and cross-channel WTD. We analyze the behaviors of WTDs in short times, correlated with the current behaviors for different spin polarizations and noncollinear angles. Cross-channel WTD reflects the correlation between two spin channels and can be used to characterize the spin transfer torque process. We study the influence of the earlier detection on the subsequent detection from the perspective of cross-channel WTD, and define the influence degree quantity as the cumulative absolute difference between cross-channel WTDs and first passage time distributions to quantitatively characterize the spin flip process. The influence degree shows a similar behavior with spin transfer torque and can be a new pathway to characterize spin correlation in spintronics system., Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures

The spin–orbit interaction enables interconversion between a charge current and a spin current. It is usually believed that in a nonmagnetic metal (NM) or at a NM/ferromagnetic metal (FM) bilayer interface, the symmetry of spin–orbit effects requires that the spin current, charge current, and spin orientation are all orthogonal to each other. Here we demonstrate the presence of spin–orbit effects near the NM/FM interface that exhibit a very different symmetry, hereafter referred to as spin-rotation symmetry, from the conventional spin Hall effect while the spin polarization is rotating about the magnetization. These results imply that a perpendicularly polarized spin current can be generated with an in-plane charge current simply by use of a FM/NM bilayer with magnetization collinear to the charge current. The ability to generate a spin current with arbitrary polarization using typical magnetic materials will benefit the development of magnetic memories., Converting charge to spin currents using spin–orbit interactions has useful applications in spintronics but symmetry constraints can limit the control over spin polarization. Here the authors demonstrate spin–orbit effects with a different symmetry, which could help generate arbitrary spin polarizations.

Quantum spin Hall system can exhibit exotic spin transport phenomena, mediated by its topological edge states. Here the concept of bending strain engineering to tune the spin transport properties of a quantum spin Hall system is demonstrated. We show that bending strain can be used to control the spin orientation of counter-propagating edge states of a quantum spin system to generate a non-zero spin current. This physics mechanism can be applied to effectively tune the spin current and pure spin current decoupled from charge current in a quantum spin Hall system by control of its bending curvature. Furthermore, the curved quantum spin Hall system can be achieved by the concept of topological nanomechanical architecture in a controllable way, as demonstrated by the material example of Bi/Cl/Si(111) nanofilm. This concept of bending strain engineering of spins via topological nanomechanical architecture affords a promising route towards the realization of topological nano-mechanospintronics., Strain engineering alters the topological properties of quantum spin Hall insulators, leading to potential applications in spintronics. Here the authors demonstrate that bending strain can be used to tune the spin transport properties and generate a non-zero spin current in curved in Bi/Cl/Si nanofilms.

We investigate the production of spin-polarized currents in corrugated graphene nanoribbons. Such corrugations are modeled as multiple regions with Rashba spin-orbit interactions, where concave and convex curvatures are treated as Rashba regions with opposite signs. Numerical examples for different separated Rashba-zone geometries calculated within the tight-binding approximation are provided. Remarkably, the spin-polarized current in a system with several Rashba areas can be enhanced with respect to the case with a single Rashba part of the same total area. The enhancement is larger for configurations with multiple regions with the same Rashba sign. This indicates that the increase of the spin polarization is due to the scattering of the electrons traversing regions with and without Rashba interaction. Additionally, we relate the appearance of the spin-polarized currents to novel symmetry relations between the spin-dependent conductances. These symmetries turn out to be a combination of different symmetry operations in real and spin spaces, as those occurring in non-planar systems like carbon nanotubes. Our results show that two-dimensional devices with Rashba spin-orbit interaction can be used as excellent spintronic devices in an all-electrical or mechanical setup., 13 pages, 7 figures

On-demand spin orientation with long polarized lifetime and easily detectable signal is an ultimate goal for spintronics. However, there still exists a trade-off between controllability and stability of spin polarization, awaiting a significant breakthrough. Here, we demonstrate switchable optomagnet effects in (Fe$_{1-x}$Zn$_{x}$)$_{2}$Mo$_{3}$O$_{8}$, from which we can obtain tunable magnetization, spanning from -40$\%$ to 40$\%$ of a saturated magnetization that is created from zero magnetization in the antiferromagnetic state without magnetic fields. It is accomplishable via utilizing circularly-polarized laser pulses to excite spin-flip transitions in polar antiferromagnets that have no spin canting, traditionally hard to control without very strong magnetic fields. The spin controllability in (Fe$_{1-x}$Zn$_{x}$)$_{2}$Mo$_{3}$O$_{8}$ originates from its polar structure that breaks the crystal inversion symmetry, allowing distinct on-site $d$-$d$ transitions for selective spin flip. By chemical doping, we exploit the phase competition between antiferromagnetic and ferrimagnetic states to enhance and stabilize the optomagnet effects, which result in long-lived photoinduced Kerr rotations. The present study, creating switchable giant optomagnet effects in polar antiferromagnets, sketches a new blueprint for the function of antiferromagnetic spintronics.

By utilizing symmetry analysis and electronic structure calculations, we investigated the low-temperature orthorhombic phase of Ag$_{2}$Se in ${\cal SG}$~17. In addition to the discovery of a nodal plane at $k_{z}=\pi$ protected by the joint operation of time-reversal (${\cal T}$) and the 2-fold screw rotation $S_{2z}$, we found 24 Weyl points mainly residing at the $k_{y}=0$ plane with notable Fermi arc and large quasiparticle interference pattern (QPI). Due to the absence of mirror symmetry, a pair of Weyl points with opposite chirality reside at different binding energies, which makes this system an excellent material candidate for realizing the novel chiral anomaly related phenomenon, such as the quantized circular photogalvanic and the chiral magnetic effects. Furthermore, we also reveal the striking spin textures at $k_{z}=\pi$ plane which demonstrates, in a large region of the surface Brillouin Zone, a direction-selective spin polarization, which has a strong implication to spintronic applications., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

An unbiased one-dimensional weak link between two terminals, subjected to the Rashba spin-orbit interaction caused by an AC electric field which rotates periodically in the plane perpendicular to the link, is shown to inject spin-polarized electrons into the terminals. The injected spin-polarization has a DC component along the link and a rotating transverse component in the perpendicular plane. In the adiabatic, low rotation-frequency regime, these polarization components are proportional to the frequency. The DC component of the polarization vanishes for a linearly-polarized electric field., published version

We consider spin-vorticity coupling - the generation of spin polarization by vorticity - in viscous two-dimensional electron systems with spin-orbit coupling. We first derive hydrodynamic equations for spin and momentum densities in which their mutual coupling is determined by the rotational viscosity. We then calculate the rotational viscosity microscopically in the limits of weak and strong spin-orbit coupling. We provide estimates that show that the spin-orbit coupling achieved in recent experiments is strong enough for the spin-vorticity coupling to be observed. On the one hand, this coupling provides a way to image viscous electron flows by imaging spin densities. On the other hand, we show that the spin polarization generated by spin-vorticity coupling in the hydrodynamic regime can, in principle, be much larger than that generated, e.g. by the spin Hall effect, in the diffusive regime.

Efficient manipulation of magnetic order with electric current pulses is desirable for achieving fast spintronic devices. The Rashba-Edelstein effect, wherein a spin polarization is electrically induced in noncentrosymmetric systems, provides a mean to achieve current-induced staggered spin-orbit torques. Initially predicted for spin, the orbital counterpart of this effect has been disregarded up to now. Here, we present a generalized Rashba-Edelstein effect, which generates not only spin polarization but also orbital polarization, which we find to be far from being negligible and could play a crucial role in the magnetization dynamics. We show that the orbital Rashba-Edelstein effect does not require spin-orbit coupling to exist. We present first-principles calculations of the frequency-dependent spin and orbital Rashba-Edelstein susceptibility tensors for the noncentrosymmetric antiferromagnets CuMnAs and Mn2Au. We show that the electrically induced local magnetization has both staggered in-plane components and non-staggered out-of-plane components, and can exhibit Rashba-like or Dresselhaus-like symmetries, depending on the magnetic configuration. Furthermore, there is an induced local magnetization on the nonmagnetic atoms as well, that is smaller in Mn2Au than in CuMnAs. We compute sizable induced magnetizations at optical frequencies, which suggest that electric-field driven switching could be achieved at much higher frequencies., 10 pages, 5 figures

We study Bi-adsorbed In atomic chains on Si(111) in order to design a one-dimensional (1D) Rashba system using first-principles calculations. From the band dispersions and spin textures, we find that this system shows 1D giant Rashba splittings. The Rashba parameters of several structures in this system are comparable with other Rashba systems. Depending on the adsorption structure, this system also shows remarkable features such as a large out-of-plane spin polarization, the reversal of spin polarization in the Rashba bands, and a metal-insulator transition. We propose a mechanism to generate a nondissipative spin current by the gap opening due to an avoided crossing of Rashba bands. This mechanism is suitable for spintronic applications without requiring an external magnetic field.

A mechanism is advanced suggesting the resolution of the dichotomy of long-lived spin polarization storage versus fast spin reversal at the required time. A system of atoms or molecules is considered interacting through magnetic dipolar forces. The constituents are assumed to possess internal structure allowing for the generation of the alternating-current quadratic Zeeman effect, whose characteristics can be efficiently regulated by quasiresonant dressing. The sample is connected to an electric circuit producing a feedback field acting on spins. By switching on and off the alternating-current quadratic Zeeman effect it is possible to realize spin reversals with a required delay time. The suggested technique of regulated spin reversal can be used in quantum information processing and spintronics., Latex file, 12 pages, 3 figures

Layered oxide heterostructures are the new routes to tailor desired electronic and magnetic phases emerging from competing interactions involving strong correlation, orbital hopping, tunnelling and lattice coupling phenomena. Here, we propose a half-metal/insulator superlattice that intrinsically forms spin-polarized two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) following a mechanism very different from the widely reported 2DEG at the single perovskite polar interfaces. From DFT$+U$ study on Sr$_2$FeMoO$_6$/La$_2$CoMnO$_6$ (001) superlattice, we find that a periodic quantum well is created along [001] which breaks the three-fold $t_{2g}$ degeneracy to separate the doubly degenerate $xz$ and $yz$ states from the planar $xy$ state. In the spin-down channel, the dual effect of quantum confinement and strong correlation localizes the degenerate states, whereas the dispersive $xy$ state forms the 2DEG which is robust against perturbations to the superlattice symmetry. The spin-up channel retains the bulk insulating. Both spin polarization and orbital polarization make the superlattice ideal for spintronic and orbitronic applications. The suggested 2DEG mechanism widens the scope of fabricating next generation of oxide heterostructures., 10 pages, 12 figures

The Edelstein effect occurring in systems with broken inversion symmetry generates a spin polarization when an electric field is applied, which is most advantageous in spintronics applications. Unfortunately, it became apparent that this kind of magnetoelectric effect is very small in semiconductors. We here demonstrate that correlation effects can strongly enhance the magnetoelectric effect. Particularly, we observe a strong enhancement of the Edelstein effect in $f$-electron systems close to the coherence temperature, where the $f$-electrons change their character from localized to itinerant. We furthermore show that this enhancement can be explained by a coupling between the conduction electrons and the still localized $f$-electrons., 9 pages, 10 figures

In ferromagnet/normal-metal bilayers, the sensitivity of the spin Hall magnetoresistance and the spin Nernst magnetothermopower to the boundary conditions at the interface is of central importance. In general, such boundary conditions can be substantially affected by current-induced spin polarizations. In order to quantify the role of the latter, we consider a Rashba two-dimensional electron gas with a ferromagnet attached to one side of the system. The geometry of such a system maximizes the effect of current-induced spin polarization on the boundary conditions, and the spin Hall magnetoresistance is shown to acquire a non-trivial and asymmetric dependence on the magnetization direction of the ferromagnet.

Magnetic droplets are dynamical solitons that can be generated by locally suppressing the dynamical damping in magnetic films with perpendicular anisotropy. To date, droplets have been observed only in nanocontact spin-torque oscillators operated by spin-polarized electrical currents. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that magnetic droplets can be nucleated and sustained by pure spin currents in nanoconstriction-based spin Hall devices. Micromagnetic simulations support our interpretation of the data, and indicate that in addition to the stationary droplets, propagating solitons can be also generated in the studied system, which can be utilized for the information transmission in spintronic applications.

We investigate the spin Hall magnetoresistance in thin-film bilayer heterostructures of the heavy metal Pt and the antiferromagnetic insulator NiO. While rotating an external magnetic field in the easy plane of NiO, we record the longitudinal and the transverse resistivity of the Pt layer and observe an amplitude modulation consistent with the spin Hall magnetoresistance. In comparison to Pt on collinear ferrimagnets, the modulation is phase shifted by ${90}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$ and its amplitude strongly increases with the magnitude of the magnetic field. We explain the observed magnetic field dependence of the spin Hall magnetoresistance in a comprehensive model taking into account magnetic-field-induced modifications of the domain structure in antiferromagnets. With this generic model, we are further able to estimate the strength of the magnetoelastic coupling in antiferromagnets. Our detailed study shows that the spin Hall magnetoresistance is a versatile tool to investigate the magnetic spin structure as well as magnetoelastic effects, even in antiferromagnetic multidomain materials.

Magnetic phase transition tunnel magnetoresistance (MPT-TMR) effect with a single magnetic electrode has been investigated by first-principles calculations. The calculations show that the MPT-TMR of FeRh/MgO/Cu tunnel junction can be as high as hundreds of percent when the magnetic structure of FeRh changes from G-type antiferromagnetic (GAFM) to ferromagnetic order. This new type of MPT-TMR may be superior to the tunnel anisotropic magnetoresistance because of its huge magneto-resistance effect and similar structural simplicity. The main mechanism for the giant MPT-TMR can be attributed to the formation of interface resonant states at GAFM-FeRh/MgO interface. A direct FeRh/MgO interface is found to be necessary for achieving high MPT-TMR experimentally. Moreover, we find the FeRh/MgO interface with FeRh in ferromagnetic phase has nearly full spin-polarization due to the negligible majority transmission and significantly different Fermi surface of two spin channels. Thus, it may act as a highly efficient and tunable spin-injector. In addition, electric field driven MPT of FeRh-based hetero-magnetic nanostructures can be utilized to design various energy efficient tunnel junction structures and the corresponding lower power consumption devices. Our results will stimulate further experimental investigations of MPT-TMR and other fascinating phenomenon of FeRh-based tunnel junctions that may be promising in antiferromagnetic spintronics.

We investigate the nonlocal Hanle effect in high mobility two-dimensional electron systems using (Ga,Mn)As/GaAs spin Esaki diodes as spin selective contacts. Spin signals in these systems can be strongly affected by dynamic nuclear polarization, which mimics long spin-relaxation times extracted from the measured Hanle curves. Here, we introduce a method which largely suppresses these effects by using an ac injection-detection setup. This allows us to extract from the measurements realistic spin lifetimes on the order of single nanoseconds. As the detection of Hanle signals is also strongly affected by offset signals we discuss the magnetic field dependence of these background voltages observed in lateral nonlocal spin injection devices. We show how the strength of the background magnetoresistance can be minimized by choosing a proper device geometry.

Spin-triplet Cooper pairs induced in ferromagnets form the centrepiece of the emerging field of superconducting spintronics [1,2]. Usually the focus of research is on the spin polarization of the triplets, potentially enabling low-dissipation magnetization switching and domain wall motion. However, the fundamental mechanism for generating triplet pairs [3,4] also permits control over a parameter which has not been addressed before, namely the spatial distribution of the supercurrent. Here we demonstrate this control by tailoring distinct supercurrent pathways in the ferromagnetic weak link of a Josephson junction. Combining micromagnetic simulations with three-dimensional critical current calculations, based on the Usadel description of mesoscopic superconductivity [5], we designed a disk-shaped structure with a magnetic vortex, which induces two distinct supercurrent channels across the junction. The design was successfully tested with superconducting quantum interferometry (SQI). Moreover, we show how the position of the pathways can be controlled by moving the vortex with a magnetic field. This novel approach allows adaptable supercurrent paths to be dynamically reconfigured to switch between different functionalities in the same device., 27 pages, 10 figures

Conventional Rashba spin polarization is caused by the combination of strong spin-orbit interaction (SOI) and spatial inversion asymmetry. However, Rashba- and Dresselhaus-type spin-split states are predicted in LaOBiS$_2$ system by recent theory even though the crystal structure is centrosymmetric, which stem from the local inversion asymmetry of active BiS$_2$ layer. By performing high-resolution spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we have investigated the electronic band structure and spin texture of superconductor LaO$_{0.55}$F$_{0.45}$BiS$_2$. Our studies present direct spectroscopic evidence for the local spin polarization in the vicinity of X point of both valence band and conduction band. Especially the coexistence of Rashba-like and Dresselhaus-like spin textures has been observed in the conduction band for the first time. The finding is of key importance for fabrication of proposed dual-gated spin-field effect transistor (SFET). Moreover, the spin-split band leads to a spin-momentum locking Fermi surface from which novel superconductivity emerges. Our demonstration not only expands the scope of spintronic materials but also enhances the understanding of SOI related superconductivity., 12 pages, 6 figures