Anomalous Current-Induced Spin Torques in Ferrimagnets near Compensation

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Anomalous Current-Induced Spin Torques in Ferrimagnets near Compensation

Year : 2017

Publisher : American Physical Societyrevtex@aps.org

Source Title : Physical Review Letters

Document Type :

Abstract

While current-induced spin-orbit torques have been extensively studied in ferromagnets and antiferromagnets, ferrimagnets have been less studied. Here we report the presence of enhanced spin-orbit torques resulting from negative exchange interaction in ferrimagnets. The effective field and switching efficiency increase substantially as CoGd approaches its compensation point, giving rise to 9 times larger spin-orbit torques compared to that of a noncompensated one. The macrospin modeling results also support efficient spin-orbit torques in a ferrimagnet. Our results suggest that ferrimagnets near compensation can be a new route for spin-orbit torque applications due to their high thermal stability and easy current-induced switching assisted by negative exchange interaction.