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We investigate current-induced spin-orbit torque (SOT) in Co/Pt/oxide systems by varying a sort of the oxide layer. When the Pt thickness is less than \ensuremath{\sim}2 nm, Pt at the interface of the oxide layer is magnetically polarized owing to the magnetic proximity effect. In these systems, fieldlike (FL) SOT depends significantly on the adjacent oxide material, whereas dampinglike SOT is almost irrelevant to oxides. The FL SOT efficiency of the $\mathrm{Pt}/\mathrm{Hf}{\mathrm{O}}_{2}$ sample is 2.2 times greater than that of the Pt/MgO sample at the maximum. X-ray magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy reveals that the anisotropy of the Pt orbital magnetic moment varies with the oxide material, suggesting that the modulation of the electronic structure at the Pt/oxide interface contributes to SOT enhancement.

We demonstrate that magnetic crystal anisotropy ( K u ) and spectroscopic g-factor can be modulated simultaneously by gate voltage in a Pt/Co/MgO ultrathin film with our ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) measurement based on the rectification effect. The g-factor reflects on orbital magnetic moment, indicating that the electric field induced-modulations of magnetic anisotropy in cobalt originate from the change of the anisotropy of orbital moments ( ∆ m L ). The quantitative estimation reveals that ∆ m L to K u correlation when the electric field is applied significantly differs from the one inherent at the Pt/Co/MgO interfaces. This means that the correlation itself is also modulated by the electric field. Our results show that the FMR technique is very useful for probing the electric field effect on K u .

The evolution of information technology has been driven by the discovery of new forms of large magnetoresistance, such as giant magnetoresistance1,2 and tunnelling magnetoresistance3,4, in magnetic multilayers. Recently, new types of this effect have been observed in much simpler bilayers consisting of ferromagnetic and non-magnetic thin films5–10. However, the magnitude of the change in resistance with magnetic field in these materials is very small, varying between 0.01 and 1%. Here, we demonstrate that non-magnetic–ferromagnetic bilayers consisting of a conducting non-magnetic InAs quantum well and an insulating ferromagnetic (Ga,Fe)Sb layer exhibit giant proximity magnetoresistance of approximately 80% at high magnetic field, and that its magnitude can be controlled by a gate. The mechanism for this large magnetoresistance is a strong magnetic proximity effect. The spin splitting in the InAs quantum well induced by the magnetic proximity effect can be varied between 0.17 meV and 3.8 meV by varying the gate voltage. In principle, this provides a mechanism to locally access Majorana fermions in InAs-based Josephson junctions11–14 and introduces a new concept of magnetic-gating spin transistors in which the non-magnetic channel current is modulated by both electrical and magnetic means. The authors demonstrate magnetoresistance of 80% from a two-dimensional electron gas proximity coupled to a ferromagnetic layer. This extends spintronics functionality to semiconductor devices.

In this study, we investigated the modulation of the spin–orbit torque (SOT) caused by inserting the NiO layer at the Pt/Co interface. A similar Pt/NiO/Co structure was deposited on two different substrates, Al2O3 and Si/SiO x substrates. We found that the damping-like torque of the Al2O3 type sample is almost independent of NiO thickness (t NiO) when t NiO x type monotonically decreased with increasing t NiO. The X-ray diffraction measurement revealed that the degree of interface roughness varies between these types. This suggests that the effect of the NiO insertion on the SOT is associated with the interface roughness.

This study investigates the effect of strain on the compensation temperature of ferrimagnetic Tb–Fe films formed on a flexible substrate. The compensation temperature is determined by the anomalous Hall measurement, and an application of 1.2% tensile strain reduces the compensation temperature by 12 K. X-ray magnetic circular dichroism reveals that approximately 5% of Fe magnetic moment and approximately 1% of Tb magnetic moment are reduced by an application of 0.9% tensile strain at the room temperature. To understand the greater reduction in Fe magnetization compared with that in Tb and the compensation temperature reduction simultaneously, a model applying molecular field theory is analyzed. Changes in three types of exchange coupling between Fe and Tb atoms are speculated to be caused by the strain.

Spin-dependent scattering at the nonmagnet/ferromagnet interface plays a key role in determining the amplitude of unidirectional spin Hall magnetoresistance (USMR), similar to giant magnetoresistance (GMR). We report the enhancement of USMR by inserting a thin Cu interlayer into the Pt/Co interface, where the Cu/Co system is well known to exhibit a large GMR. A measurement of the spin-orbit torque shows that the spin current injection into the Co layer is not modulated by the Cu interlayer. In addition, USMR increases with the Cu thickness for the ultrathin regime as the Cu/Co interface is formed, reaching a peak before decreasing, owing to the shunting effect. Our results suggest an interfacial origin of the enhanced USMR and highlight the close similarities between USMR and GMR.

We fabricated a Pd/Co-based spin valve structure, which has in-plane (IP) free and out-of-plane (OOP) fixed layers, on a flexible substrate. By applying %-order biaxial tensile strain to the substrate, a spin reorientation transition from IP to OOP occurs in the free layer, resulting in a drastic change in the shape of the magnetoresistance curve. This change is reversible with increasing and decreasing strain. We suggest that our system could be utilized as an in-plane “direction-independent” strain sensor and as a pressure detector.

Electric field modulations of magnetism in ferromagnetic metals are in general ascribed to the electric field effects on the orbitals. However, a direct observation of the electric-field-induced changes in the orbital states of a ferromagnetic metal is lacking. In this Rapid Communication, we demonstrate that an electric field applied to an ultrathin Co film can change the electron occupations according to the orbitals, combining x-ray absorption and x-ray magnetic circularly dichroism spectroscopies with the sum rules. Under a positive electric field, the ${d}_{xz(yz)}$-occupied states decrease mainly via the modification of orbital hybridizations, while the ${d}_{{z}^{2}}$-occupied state increases. The changes in the ${d}_{xz}$ and ${d}_{yz}$ states dominantly alter the Curie temperature.

We demonstrated the electric field (EF) effect on exchange bias (EB) in a perpendicularly magnetized $\mathrm{Co}/\mathrm{Co}{\mathrm{O}}_{x}$ layered structure. The antiferromagnetic $\mathrm{Co}{\mathrm{O}}_{x}$ layer was formed by naturally oxidizing the Co surface. The modulation of the EB field and the coercivity by gate voltage application through a dielectric layer was clearly observed below the blocking temperature ${T}_{\mathrm{B}}$. The modulation ratio of the EB field exhibited strong temperature dependence, and it increased as the temperature approached ${T}_{\mathrm{B}}$. One possible cause of the EB modulation detailed herein is the modulation of the electronic state at the $\mathrm{Co}/\mathrm{Co}{\mathrm{O}}_{x}$ interface, which is fundamentally different from the case in which multiferroic antiferromagnets are used.

A vertical spin metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (spin MOSFET) is a promising low-power device for the post scaling era. Here, using a ferromagnetic-semiconductor GaMnAs-based vertical spin MOSFET with a GaAs channel layer, we demonstrate a large drain-source current IDS modulation by a gate-source voltage VGS with a modulation ratio up to 130%, which is the largest value that has ever been reported for vertical spin field-effect transistors thus far. We find that the electric field effect on indirect tunneling via defect states in the GaAs channel layer is responsible for the large IDS modulation. This device shows a tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio up to ~7%, which is larger than that of the planar-type spin MOSFETs, indicating that IDS can be controlled by the magnetization configuration. Furthermore, we find that the TMR ratio can be modulated by VGS. This result mainly originates from the electric field modulation of the magnetic anisotropy of the GaMnAs ferromagnetic electrodes as well as the potential modulation of the nonmagnetic semiconductor GaAs channel layer. Our findings provide important progress towards high-performance vertical spin MOSFETs., Comment: 29 pages

Miniaturized strain sensors are of value in a variety of areas, including wearable devices and structural health monitoring. Strain gauges based on magnetoresistance effects have previously been developed and offer potential advantages over conventional devices. However, these approaches have so far focused on sensing only the magnitude of the strain. Here, we show that a flexible giant magnetoresistive device can be used to detect the direction of strain in a material. Our trilayer devices, which are fabricated on a flexible substrate, consist of a strain-sensitive ferromagnetic cobalt layer and a strain-insensitive ferromagnetic permalloy (NiFe) layer, separated by a non-magnetic copper layer. We also show that the strain-sensitive and strain-insensitive layers can be made from a single ferromagnetic material by engineering the magnetoelastic properties of cobalt layers. Our integration of spintronics and flexible electronics could lead to the development of a flexible sensor sheet capable of mapping local strain directions. The direction of strain in a material can be detected using flexible giant magnetoresistive devices that consist of a strain-sensitive free layer and a strain-insensitive pinned layer.

We demonstrate current-induced switching of perpendicular magnetization without any external magnetic field by introducing lateral structural asymmetry through gate-induced redox reactions. A gate electrode was fabricated to cover only half of a heavy metal/ferromagnet/oxide wire, allowing a gate voltage to form an in-plane oxidation gradient. The essential role of structural asymmetry is evidenced by the fact that external-field-free deterministic switching is absent when the gate electrode covers an entire wire. We confirm that the current-induced perpendicular effective field deterministically drives the magnetization direction at zero field. Magnetic domain imaging and transport measurements clarify that the origin of the perpendicular effective field is not the Rashba effect, but the Oersted field at the wire edges.

Since the charge current plays a major role in information processing and Joule heating is inevitable in electronic devices, thermal management, i.e., designing heat flows, is required. Here, we report that strain application can change a direction of a heat current generated by magneto-thermoelectric effects. For demonstration, we used metallic magnets in a thin-film form, wherein the anomalous Ettingshausen effect mainly determines the direction of the heat flow. Strain application can alter the magnetization direction owing to the magnetoelastic effect. As a result, the heat current, which is in the direction of the cross product of the charge current and the magnetization vector, can be switched or rotated simply by applying a tensile strain to the metallic magnets. We demonstrate 180° switching and 90° rotation of the heat currents in an in-plane magnetized Ni sample on a rigid sapphire substrate and a perpendicularly magnetized TbFeCo film on a flexible substrate, respectively. An active thermography technique was used to capture the strain-induced change in the heat current direction. The method presented here provides a novel method for controlling thermal energy in electronic devices.

The evolution of information technology has been driven by the discovery of new forms of large magnetoresistance (MR), such as giant magnetoresistance (GMR) and tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) in magnetic multilayers. Recently, new types of MR have been observed in much simpler bilayers consisting of ferromagnetic (FM)/nonmagnetic (NM) thin films; however, the magnitude of MR in these materials is very small (0.01 ~ 1%). Here, we demonstrate that NM/FM bilayers consisting of a NM InAs quantum well conductive channel and an insulating FM (Ga,Fe)Sb layer exhibit giant proximity magnetoresistance (PMR) (~80% at 14 T). This PMR is two orders of magnitude larger than the MR observed in NM/FM bilayers reported to date, and its magnitude can be controlled by a gate voltage. These results are explained by the penetration of the InAs two-dimensional-electron wavefunction into (Ga,Fe)Sb. The ability to strongly modulate the NM channel current by both electrical and magnetic gating represents a new concept of magnetic-gating spin transistors.

Magnetic domain wall speed exceeding 100 m/s is modulated by electrical gating of interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction., We show that the electric field (EF) can control the domain wall (DW) velocity in a Pt/Co/Pd asymmetric structure. With the application of a gate voltage, a substantial change in DW velocity up to 50 m/s is observed, which is much greater than that observed in previous studies. Moreover, modulation of a DW velocity exceeding 100 m/s is demonstrated in this study. An EF-induced change in the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) up to several percent is found to be the origin of the velocity modulation. The DMI-mediated velocity change shown here is a fundamentally different mechanism from that caused by EF-induced anisotropy modulation. Our results will pave the way for the electrical manipulation of spin structures and dynamics via DMI control, which can enhance the performance of spintronic devices.

This study investigates the electric-field effect on magnetic moments in perpendicularly magnetized Co ultra-thin films on a Pt underlayer. By applying electric fields to the Co surface through MgO/HfO2 insulating layers, we determined the change in the magnetic moment per one electrically increased electron. From systematic experiments at temperatures much below the Curie temperature, we found that the sign and the magnitude of the change depend on the nominal Co thickness tCo: the change nearly equals to −1 μB/electron for tCo ∼ 0.45 nm and more than +1 μB/electron at tCo ∼ 0.2 nm. The former value is consistent with the expectation from the celebrated Slater–Pauling curve. The latter value implies that one needs to consider some effects characteristic to Pt/Co system with extremely small tCo. The calculated band structures suggest that the intermixing between Co and Pt is related to the observed deviation from the Slater–Pauling curve with decreasing tCo.

We have demonstrated a reversible control of magnetic anisotropy in Pt/Co and Pd/Co structures formed on a polyethylene naphthalate flexible substrate by stretching the substrate biaxially. Compared with the case of the uniaxial tensile strain, which has been previously studied, the in-plane biaxial tensile strain produces much larger compressive strain normal to the plane, resulting in the significant modulation of the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. We found the magnetic easy axis switching from in-plane to out-of-plane by applying up to 2% biaxial strain. In-plane magnetic anisotropy induced by the biaxial tensile strain is also investigated.

Voltage control of current-induced spin–orbit torque (SOT) in an in-plane-magnetized Pd/Co/Pd system with a low-temperature-deposited HfO x and a gate electrode on top is studied. An application of the gate electric field to the HfO x layer is to induce a non-volatile electrochemical effect from the Pd/HfO x interface. By means of low-frequency harmonic Hall measurements, the voltage modulation of both damping-like and field-like SOT is obtained. The sign of the voltage-induced SOT modification is found to be reversed by changing the top Pd thickness. Our finding is expected to facilitate the efficient active manipulation of SOT.

We report the observation of a magnon Hall-like effect for the scattering of magnons at the sample edge in Y3Fe5O12 crystals. The experiments are performed under an out-of-plane magnetic field at room temperature using an infrared thermometry. When the magnons are incident into the sample edge in the unsaturated magnetic structure, appreciable transverse thermal gradient is detected. This thermal gradient could be attributed to magnon Hall effect for sample-edge scattering. We unexpectedly find that this effect is largely enhanced in the unsaturated regime, compared with the saturated regime where theoretical mechanism of magnon Hall effect due to the Berry curvature has been proposed previously.

In creep regime, a magnetic domain wall (DW) is regarded as a one-dimensional object that consists of many small segments. However, observation of such a specific segment motion has remained a challenge due to its small size. Here we present direct evidence of individual DW segment motion by employing electrical Hall measurement. When the DW is moved by a weak magnetic field, we find that the anomalous Hall effect (AHE) resistance, RAHE, exhibits random jumps between two resistance states. We confirm that the RAHE jump appears in various samples but the RAHE jump is absent when the width of sample is narrower than DW jump size. These results imply the existence of a specific segment length that governs the DW creep motion.

This study investigates element-specific atomic distances and strains in ferromagnetic (FM) nano-thin films deposited on a flexible substrate, which can be modulated by stretching the substrate. Extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy was used for the experiments. Both in-plane tensile and out-of-plane compressive strains were investigated by applying %-order tensile strains to the substrate. The atomic distance changes induced by stretching the substrate were quantitatively discussed by considering the Poisson compression, crystalline orientations of the FM metals, and polarization in the EXAFS measurement. Consequently, the ratio of strain transfer from the flexible substrate to the FM layers was estimated to be about 30% and 60% in Co and Fe nano-thin films, respectively. The strain transfer in Co films with different Co or Pt underlayer thicknesses was also measured. The results are compared with the thickness dependence of the effective magnetoelastic coupling constant, which represents the magnitude of the inverse magnetostriction effect. Although the strain transfer partially contributes to the thickness dependence, the difference in the Co lattice constant is suggested to have a significant influence on the effective magnetoelastic coupling constant.

In this report, current-induced spin–orbit torques (SOTs) in a permalloy (Py)/Pt/Co tri-layer system are investigated. In addition to the conventional SOTs generated from the spin Hall effect in the Pt layer, we observed a distinct existence of unconventional SOT acting on the in-plane magnetized Py layer in which the polarity of SOT reverses with the magnetization of perpendicularly magnetized Co. From its symmetry and experimental verifications, we conclude that this unconventional SOT, especially the damping-like torque term, originates from the additional spin current generated by the spin–orbit precession effect at the Pt/Co interface. Moreover, we reveal that the polarity of this SOT strongly depends on the interface structure of the ferromagnetic material/non-magnetic metal (NM), which can be controlled by the choice of NM material. The interface structure dependence shows a consistent result with first principle calculations of the spin–orbit precession effect that were previously reported. Our findings not only broaden the origin of the current-induced SOT but also pave the way for the design of high-efficient SOT-based devices.

The electric field (EF) modulation of magnetic domain wall (DW) creep velocity $v$ in Pt/Co/Pd structure with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (MA) has been studied. The structures with different Co thickness $t_\mathrm{Co}$ up to $\sim 1$ nm are investigated. In all samples, applying a gate voltage induces a clear change in $v$. Thicker samples provide a higher $v$ modulation efficiency, and the $v$ modulation magnitude of more than a factor of 100 times is observed in the thickest $t_\mathrm{Co}$ of 0.98 nm. The parameter characterizing the creep motion is significantly affected by the EF, resulting in the modulation of $v$. Unlike the $v$ case, the MA modulation efficiency decreases with increasing $t_\mathrm{Co}$. The present results are discussed based on the EF-induced change in the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (iDMI), which has been recently demonstrated in the same structure, and $t_\mathrm{Co}$ dependence of the DW energy. The $t_\mathrm{Co}$ dependence of the $v$ modulation suggests that the EF effect on the iDMI is more important than the MA.

Spin-related phenomena, such as the giant magnetoresistance and the spin-transfer torque, have led to a new era of nano-spintronics in last two decades. The discovery of these physical phenomena has contributed to a substantial increase in the data storage capacity of computers. Another revolutionary phenomenon, the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI), was recently discovered in ultra-thin ferromagnet/heavy-metal bilayers. The DMI stabilizes nanometre-sized chiral spin textures such as Neel domain walls and hedgehog skyrmions. These chiral objects find the potential for applications in ultra-high density, low-energy, and high-speed memory devices because they are stable due to topological protection and easy to move with high efficiency. As both stability and current-driven speed of chiral spin textures are proportional to the DMI strength [A. Thiaville et al., Europhys Lett. 100, 57002 (2012); A. Fert, V. Cros, and J. Sampiao, Nat. Nanotechnol. 8, 152 (2013)], tremendous efforts are being devoted to finding high-DMI materials. In this respect, understanding the microscopic origin of DMI is of critical importance. Here we discuss the microscopic origin of the interfacial DMI with experimental and theoretical studies as follows: First, we show the temperature dependence of the DMI for a Pt/Co/MgO trilayer; the DMI increases with decreasing temperature in a range from 300 to 100 K. To discuss this temperature dependence of the DMI, that of the spin and orbital magnetic moments of Co and Pt is studied by X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) spectroscopy. We find that spin moment values of Co and Pt show temperature dependences due to change in Heisenberg exchange. Furthermore, the intra-atomic magnetic dipole moment, which is due to the asymmetric spin-density distribution, shows strong temperature dependence, suggesting a sizable modification of the charge distribution between the in-plane and the out-of-plane d-orbitals under temperature variation. We also find that the out-of-plane orbital moment shows large temperature dependence while in-plane orbital moment does not, revealing a close connection between the anisotropy of orbital moment and the DMI. The ab-initio and the tight-binding model calculations suggest that the ISB-dependent electron hopping, which gives rise to the asymmetric charge distribution at the interface of the FM/HM, is a possible microscopic origin of the correlation between the orbital anisotropy and the DMI.

We fabricated a solid-state capacitor on an organic flexible substrate, which has an ultra-thin ferromagnetic Co electrode with a HfO2 dielectric layer formed by atomic layer deposition. Tensile stress was applied parallel to the capacitor plane. The breakdown strain monotonically increases with a reduction in HfO2 layer thickness. From the sheet resistance measurement, strain endurance up to 1.5% is realized in the capacitor with 10 nm thick HfO2. A magnetic anisotropy of the Co layer is controllable by applying voltage between the Co and counter electrode. The modulation efficiency of the voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy is almost independent of the strain.

We studied the effect of electric field (EF) on the coercivity of two Pt/Co structures with different Co layer thicknesses. Opposite signs of the coercivity change by the gate voltage application are observed in these samples, whereas the sign of the magnetic anisotropy change is the same. We performed direct observations of the domain structures during magnetization reversal under the gate voltage and found that two samples showed significant differences in the reversal process and EF effect. This result indicates that the sign reversal of the electric field effect on coercivity observed in the present structures originates from the difference in the macroscopic magnetization reversal process.

A cobalt ultrathin film, which shows a large change in Curie temperature by an electric field application, has been studied by x-ray reflectometry with applying electric fields. The cobalt film was made by the sputtering method on top of a Pt buffer layer, and capped with a MgO layer. X-ray reflectometry shows that the change in Co thickness caused by the applied voltage up to ±10 V was less than 0.06 Å. The reflectivity signal intensity shows a characteristic kink at the Co K-absorption edge. The spectrum does not show any change with applying voltage. As a result, electric field effects on the structure and chemical states of Co in the Co ultrathin film were found to be minor.

Chiral spin textures of a ferromagnetic layer in contact to a heavy non-magnetic metal, such as Néel-type domain walls and skyrmions, have been studied intensively because of their potential for future nanomagnetic devices. The Dyzaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMI) is an essential phenomenon for the formation of such chiral spin textures. In spite of recent theoretical progress aiming at understanding the microscopic origin of the DMI, an experimental investigation unravelling the physics at stake is still required. Here we experimentally demonstrate the close correlation of the DMI with the anisotropy of the orbital magnetic moment and with the magnetic dipole moment of the ferromagnetic metal in addition to Heisenberg exchange. The density functional theory and the tight-binding model calculations reveal that inversion symmetry breaking with spin–orbit coupling gives rise to the orbital-related correlation. Our study provides the experimental connection between the orbital physics and the spin–orbit-related phenomena, such as DMI., 原子磁石どうしが捻れて並ぶ現象のミクロな起源を解明 --新原理の情報記録技術をめざして--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2018-05-01.

An asymmetric magnetoresistance (MR) is investigated in Py/Pt bilayers. The asymmetric MR linearly increases with current density up to a threshold, and increases more rapidly above the threshold. To reveal the origin of threshold behavior, we investigate the magnetic field dependence of the asymmetric MR. It is found that the magnetic field strongly suppresses the asymmetric MR only above the threshold current density. Micromagnetic simulation reveals that the reduction of magnetization due to the spin-torque oscillation can be the origin of the threshold behavior of asymmetric MR.

Manipulation of magnetization using current-induced torque is crucial for magnetic recording devices. Recently, the spin-orbit torque (SOT) that emerges in a ferromagnetic thin film on a heavy metal is focused as a new scheme for magnetization switching in perpendicularly magnetized systems. Since the SOT provides a perpendicular effective field to the system, the formation of a magnetic multiple domain state because of Joule heating is supressed in the magnetization reversal process. This means that high reliable switching is possible using the SOT. Here, by utilizing the SOT induced domain stability, we show that an electrical current directly injected to a perpendicularly magnetized Pt/Co/Pd system can magnetize itself, that is, current-induced magnetization process from multi to single domain state. A quantitative determination of the SOT is performed using the current-induced magnetization curve. The present results are of great importance as another approach to evaluate the SOT effect, as well as a demonstration of domain state switching caused by the SOT.

We investigate the ferromagnetic layer thickness dependence of the voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA) in HM/CoFeB(t)/MgO(2)/Ta(1) (HM = Ta(1) or W(3); thicknesses in nanometer) heterostructures with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA).

The Curie temperature is one of the most fundamental physical properties of ferromagnetic materials and can be described by Weiss molecular field theory with the exchange interaction of neighboring atoms. Recently, the electric-field-induced modulation of the Curie temperature has been demonstrated in transition metals. This can be interpreted as indirect evidence for the electrical modulation of exchange coupling. However, the scenario has not yet been experimentally verified. Here, we demonstrate the electrical control of exchange coupling in cobalt film from direct magnetization measurements. We find that the reduction in magnetization with temperature, which is caused by thermal spin wave excitation and scales with Bloch's law, clearly depends on the applied electric field. Furthermore, we confirm that the correlation between the electric-field-induced modulation of the Curie temperature and that of exchange coupling follows Weiss molecular field theory.

We study the ferromagnetic layer thickness dependence of the voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA) in gated CoFeB/MgO heterostructures with heavy metal underlayers. When the effective CoFeB thickness is below ~1 nm, the VCMA efficiency of Ta/CoFeB/MgO heterostructures considerably decreases with decreasing CoFeB thickness. We find that a high order phenomenological term used to describe the thickness dependence of the areal magnetic anisotropy energy can also account for the change in the areal VCMA efficiency. In this structure, the higher order term competes against the common interfacial VCMA, thereby reducing the efficiency at lower CoFeB thickness. The areal VCMA efficiency does not saturate even when the effective CoFeB thickness exceeds ~1 nm. We consider the higher order term is related to the strain that develops at the CoFeB/MgO interface: as the average strain of the CoFeB layer changes with its thickness, the electronic structure of the CoFeB/MgO interface varies leading to changes in areal magnetic anisotropy energy and VCMA efficiency.

A ferromagnetic (FM)-metal/oxide stack is the key structure determining the performance of spintronic devices. However, the effect of the electronic polarity of the oxide on the magnetic properties of the adjacent FM-metal has not been investigated previously. Here, we report the magnetic and structural properties of Co ultra-thin films sputter deposited directly on the Zn- and O-polar surfaces of ZnO substrates. The magnetic anisotropy and Curie temperature exhibit dramatic polarity-dependent differences for films on these surfaces. Structural analyses reveal that the heterointerface of the Co/O-polar surface is rather diffusive, whereas that of the Co/Zn-polar surface is atomically flat. These results suggest that the surface polarity plays a key role in determining the properties of the film. This novel FM-metal/polar-oxide system is expected to add new functionality to spintronic devices and provide an ideal basis for investigating the effect of a built-in electric field on the magnetism in a metallic monolayer.

We investigate temperature, temporal and magnetic-field dependence of unidirectional magnetoresistance (UMR) in metallic bilayers. The UMR is found to decrease rapidly with reducing temperature and converges to a finite value at low-temperature limit. The temporal dependence shows that the UMR emerges in a nanosecond time scale, which depends on the current amplitude. The magnetic-field dependence shows that the UMR is almost constant up to 5 T. These experimental results imply that the high-energy magnons, which are not considered in existing theory, can be involved in the observed UMR. Our results therefore suggest that a more extended theory is required for the complete understanding of UMR.

We succeeded in fabricating a CoFeB/MgO-based magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) directly on an organic flexible substrate. The MTJ shows good strain endurance while keeping the tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio of ~100% under various strained conditions; the TMR ratio is almost unchanged up to a tensile strain of 1.2%. Because of the magnetoelastic effect, the magnetic anisotropy fields for the top and bottom CoFeB layers are linearly proportional to strain with almost the same rate as that in a single CoFeB film, suggesting that the expected strain is added on both CoFeB layers in the MTJ pillar from the stretched flexible substrate.

We have demonstrated that the strain direction can be detected sensitively using an exchange-biased spin valve (SV) formed on a flexible substrate. The flexible giant magnetoresistive SV used here contains a strain-sensitive Co free layer and a strain-insensitive exchange-biased NiFe pinned layer. The exchange bias is imparted from an antiferromagnetic FeMn layer stacked on the NiFe layer. When the strain is applied in a direction deviating from the exchange bias field, the free layer magnetization rotates along this directly only, resulting in a resistance change. Compared to the previously reported flexible pseudo SV, the present device allows strain direction sensing at a much smaller strain magnitude because no external magnetic field assistance is needed to fix the pinned layer magnetization, which hampers the rotation of the free layer magnetization. The robustness of the exchange bias to the strain in the simple NiFe/FeMn bilayer structure is also discussed.We have demonstrated that the strain direction can be detected sensitively using an exchange-biased spin valve (SV) formed on a flexible substrate. The flexible giant magnetoresistive SV used here contains a strain-sensitive Co free layer and a strain-insensitive exchange-biased NiFe pinned layer. The exchange bias is imparted from an antiferromagnetic FeMn layer stacked on the NiFe layer. When the strain is applied in a direction deviating from the exchange bias field, the free layer magnetization rotates along this directly only, resulting in a resistance change. Compared to the previously reported flexible pseudo SV, the present device allows strain direction sensing at a much smaller strain magnitude because no external magnetic field assistance is needed to fix the pinned layer magnetization, which hampers the rotation of the free layer magnetization. The robustness of the exchange bias to the strain in the simple NiFe/FeMn bilayer structure is also discussed.