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The spin-mixing conductance (SMC) is an essential parameter for ferromagnetic-insulators-based spintronics devices. Here, we study the influence of device boundary on local spin transport properties in platinum (Pt)/yttrium iron garnet (YIG) films by reducing the lateral size of the devices. An obvious fluctuation of spin Hall magnetoresistance, Gilbert damping coefficient, and effective spin Hall angle with restricting the size of YIG films has been found at room temperature. By employing both harmonic and current-induced spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance measurements, we have found a negligible fluctuation of both the imaginary part of SMC and effective magnetization with varying the geometric size of devices. In contrast, the real part of SMC at the Pt/YIG interface has been rigidly altered. Our results show that the SMC dramatically depends on the boundary effect from Ar+-ion milling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The magnetization dynamics of disordered Fe0.5(Pd1-xPtx)0.5 alloy films was studied by time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect and ferromagnetic resonance. The intrinsic Gilbert damping parameter α0 and the resonance linewidth change linearly with the Pt atomic concentration. In particular, the induced in-plane uniaxial anisotropy constant KU also increases for x increasing from 0 to 1. All these results can be attributed to the tuning effect of the spin orbit coupling. For the disordered ternary alloys, an approach is proposed to control the induced in-plane uniaxial anisotropy, different from conventional thermal treat methods, which is helpful to design and fabrications of spintronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report spin–orbit torques (SOT) in a L10-ordered perpendicularly magnetized FePt single layer, which is significantly influenced by disorder. Recently, self-induced SOT in the L10-FePt single layer has been investigated, which is ascribed to the composition gradient along the normal direction of the film. However, the determined mechanisms for magnetization switching have not been fully studied. With varying growth temperatures, we have prepared FePt single layers with the same thickness (3 nm) but with different disordering. We have found that nearly full magnetization switching only happens in more disordered films, and the magnetization switching ratio becomes smaller with increasing L10 ordering. The method for deriving effective spin torque fields in the previous studies cannot fully explain the spin current generation and self-induced SOT in the L10-FePt single layer. Combined with the magneto-optical Kerr effect microscopy and anomalous Hall effect measurements, we concluded that the disorder should determine the formation of domain walls, as well as the spin current generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the enhancement of spin-orbit torques (SOT) in MnAl/Ta films with improving chemical ordering through annealing. The switching current density is increased due to enhanced saturation magnetization MS and effective anisotropy field HK after annealing. Using harmonic measurements, we have found that both dampling-like effective field HD and field-like effective field HF were increased in the temperature range of 50 to 300 K, and the annealing has also enhanced the value of the spin Hall angle. The improved chemical ordering is considered to have enhanced the interfacial spin transparency and the transmitting of the spin current in the MnAl layer. The results suggest that MnAl films with high bulk perpendicular magnetic anisotropy are ideal for a systematic examination of SOT, in which the related magnetic and transport behaviors can be controllably varied with thermally tuned chemical ordering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electric-field control of magnetization has many potential applications in magnetic memory storage, sensors, and spintronics. A new multiferroic spin-valve (SV) heterostructure was grown by combining a multiferroic \ BiFeO3 (BFO) and a \ Co90{\ {Fe}}10/{\ {Cu/Co}}90{\ {Fe}}10 spin valve on \ Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrate. Through the magnetoelectric coupling between a BFO layer and \ Co90{\ {Fe}}10 layer, the magnetoresistance of SV could be controlled by electric field applied on the BFO layer. The BFO film exhibits an obvious ferroelectric property with a remnant polarization of 17 \mu\ C/cm^2 and a coercive field of 400 kV/cm. The exchange bias of 6 Oe and magnetoresistance (MR) of 1.04% were observed in the heterostructure at room temperature. Moreover, an electric-field-induced change of MR was demonstrated when we employed 0.5- and -0.5-V voltage between top and bottom electrode layer. Furthermore, the values of MR of the spin were changed into 0.71% and 0.95%, respectively. This realization of the electric-field-induced change of MR indicates the great potential applications in future functional devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study Ta underlayer thickness dependence of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in TbFeCo films. The experiment shows that perpendicular coercivity, saturation magnetization, and remanent squareness ratio of the TbFeCo films change significantly with the Ta underlayer thickness. For example, the perpendicular coercivity (Hc) of the films increases from 671 to 2305 Oe. The reason is that the Ta underlayer affects the number of magnetic pinning sites and the oxidation of the films by residual oxygen atoms in the experimental environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report room temperature ferromagnetism in boron-doped ZnO both experimentally and theoretically. The single phase Zn1-xBxO films deposited under high oxygen pressure by pulsed laser deposition show ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature. The saturation magnetization increases monotonically from 0 to 1.5 emu/cm3 with the increasing boron component x from 0% to 6.8%. The first-principles calculations demonstrate that the ferromagnetism in the B-doped ZnO originates from the induced magnetic moment of oxygen atoms in the nearest neighbor sites to B-Zn vacancy pairs. The calculated total magnetic moment shows an increasing trend with the boron component which is consistent with experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electric-field (E-field) controlled exchange bias (EB) in a Co90Fe10/BiFeO3 (BFO)/SrRuO3/PMN-PT heterostructure has been investigated under different tensile strain states. The in-plane tensile strain of the BFO film is changed from +0.52% to +0.43% as a result of external E-field applied to the PMN-PT substrate. An obvious change of EB by the control of non-volatile strain has been observed. A magnetization reversal driven by E-field has been observed in the absence of magnetic field. Our results indicate that a reversible non-volatile E-field control of a ferromagnetic layer through strain modulated multiferroic BFO could be achieved at room temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]