Enhanced spin–orbit torque efficiency in Pt100−xNix alloy based magnetic bilayer

The binary alloy/ferromagnetic metal heterostructure has drawn extensive attention in the research field of spin–orbittorque(SOT)due to the potential enhancement of SOT efficiency via composition engineering.In this work,the magneticproperties and SOT efficiency in the Pt100?xNix/Ni78Fe22 bilayers were investigated via the spin-torque ferromagneticresonance(ST-FMR)technique.The effective magnetic anisotropy field and effective damping constant extracted by analyzing the ST-FMR spectra show a weak dependence on the Ni concentration.The effective spin-mixing conductanceof 8.40×10¹⁴??1·m?2and the interfacial spin transparency Tin of 0.59 were obtained for the sample of Pt70Ni30/NiFebilayer.More interestingly,the SOT efficiency that is carefully extracted from the angular dependence of ST-FMR spectrashows a nonmonotonic dependence on the Ni concentration,which reaches the maximum at x=18.The enhancement ofthe SOT efficiency by alloying the Ni with Pt shows potential in lowering the critical switching current.Moreover,alloyingrelatively cheaper Ni with Pt may promote to reduce the cost of SOT devices.     

Magnetoelectric memory effect in the Y-type hexaferrite BaSrZnMgFe_(12)O_(22)

We report on the magnetic and magnetoelectric properties of the Y-type hexaferrite BaSrZnMgFe_(12)O_(22),which undergoes transitions from a collinear ferrimagnetic phase to a proper screw phase at 310 K and to a longitudinal conical phase at 45 K.Magnetic and electric measurements revealed that the magnetic structure with spiral spin order can be modified by applying a magnetic field,resulting in magnetically controllable electric polarization.It was observed that BaSrZnMgFe_(12)O_(22)exhibits an anomalous magnetoelectric memory effect:the ferroelectric state can be partially recovered from the paraelectric phase with collinear spin structure by reducing magnetic field at 20 K.We ascribe this memory effect to the pinning of multiferroic domain walls,where spin chirality and structure are preserved even in the nonpolar collinear spin state.     

Non-volatile multi-state magnetic domain transformation in a Hall balance

High performance of the generation, stabilization and manipulation of magnetic skyrmions prompts the application of topological multilayers in spintronic devices. Skyrmions in synthetic antiferromagnets (SAF) have been considered as a promising alternative to overcome the limitations of ferromagnetic skyrmions, such as the skyrmion Hall effect and stray magnetic field. Here, by using the Lorentz transmission electron microscopy, the interconversion between the single domain, labyrinth domain and skyrmion state can be observed by the combined manipulation of electric current and magnetic field in a Hall balance (a SAF with the core structure of [Co/Pt]₄/NiO/[Co/Pt]₄ showing perpendicular magnetic anisotropy). Furthermore, high-density room temperature skyrmions can be stabilized at zero field while the external stimulus is removed and the skyrmion density is tunable. The generation and manipulation method of skyrmions in Hall balance in this study opens up a promising way to engineer SAF-skyrmion-based memory devices.     

Long-distance super-exchange and quantum magnetic relaxation in a hybrid metal–organic framework

The hybrid metal–organic framework [(CH3)2NH2]Fe(HCOO)3with a perovskite-like structure exhibits a variety of unusual magnetic behaviors at low temperatures. While the long-distance super-exchange through the Fe-O–CH-O–Fe exchange path leads to a canted antiferromagnetic ordering at TN～ 19 K, a second transition of magnetic blocking develops at TB～ 9 K. The stair-shaped magnetization hysteresis loops below TBresemble the behaviors of resonant quantum tunneling of magnetization in single-molecular quantum magnets. Moreover, the magnetic relaxation also exhibits several features of resonant quantum relaxation, such as the exponential law with a single characteristic relaxation time, and the nonmonotonic dependence of relaxation rate on the applied magnetic field with a much faster relaxation around the resonant fields. The origin of quantum tunneling behaviors in the [(CH3)2NH2]Fe(HCOO)3metal–organic framework is discussed in terms of magnetic phase separation due to the modification of hydrogen bonding on the long-distance super-exchange interaction.     

Realization of a flux-driven memtranstor at room temperature

The memtranstor has been proposed to be the fourth fundamental circuit memelement in addition to the memristor,memcapacitor, and meminductor. Here, we demonstrate the memtranstor behavior at room temperature in a device made of the magnetoelectric hexaferrite(Ba_(0.5)Sr_(1.5)Co_2Fe_(11) AlO_(22)) where the electric polarization is tunable by external magnetic field. This device shows a nonlinear q–р relationship with a butterfly-shaped hysteresis loop, in agreement with the anticipated memtranstor behavior. The memtranstor, like other memelements, has a great potential in developing more advanced circuit functionalities.