journal article·2021-02-03

Enhanced Spin–Orbit Coupling in Heavy Metals via Molecular Coupling

Satam Alotibi, Bryan J. Hickey, Gilberto Teobaldi, Mannan Ali, Joseph Barker, Emiliano Poli, David D. O’Regan, Quentin Ramasse, Gavin Burnell, James Patchett, Chiara Ciccarelli, Mohammed Alyami, Timothy Moorsom, Oscar Cespedes

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Abstract

5d metals are used in electronics because of their high spin–orbit coupling (SOC) leading to efficient spin-electric conversion. When C60 is grown on a metal, the electronic structure is altered due to hybridization and charge transfer. In this work, we measure the spin Hall magnetoresistance for Pt/C60 and Ta/C60, finding that they are up to a factor of 6 higher than those for pristine metals, indicating a 20–60% increase in the spin Hall angle. At low fields of 1–30 mT, the presence of C60 increased the anisotropic magnetoresistance by up to 700%. Our measurements are supported by noncollinear density functional theory calculations, which predict a significant SOC enhancement by C60 that penetrates through the Pt layer, concomitant with trends in the magnetic moment of transport electrons acquired via SOC and symmetry breaking. The charge transfer and hybridization between the metal and C60 can be controlled by gating, so our results indicate the possibility of dynamically modifying the SOC of thin metals using molecular layers. This could be exploited in spin-transfer torque memories and pure spin current circuits.
Source: openalex_inverted_index · Quality: baseline

Research context

OpenAlex topics: Quantum and electron transport phenomena · Magnetic properties of thin films · Molecular Junctions and Nanostructures

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, U.K.

Scientific Computing Department, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Didcot OX11 0QX, U.K.

Beijing Computational Science Research Center, Beijing 100193, China

Stephenson Institute for Renewable Energy, Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3BX, U.K.

School of Chemistry, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ, U.K.

School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland

Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN) and the SFI Advanced Materials and Bio-Engineering Research Centre (AMBER), Dublin 2, Ireland

SuperSTEM, SciTech Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus, Keckwick Lane, Daresbury WA4 4AD, U.K.

Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, U.K.

Funding

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council · Royal Society · Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University · Science Foundation Ireland

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