Ultrafast switching of a nanomagnet by a combined out-of-plane and in-plane polarized spin-current pulse

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates ultrafast nanomagnet switching using combined out-of-plane and in-plane spin-current pulses, significantly reducing switching pulse duration and enhancing reliability in spin valve devices.

Contribution

It introduces a novel spin valve design with both out-of-plane and in-plane polarizers, achieving faster switching times than conventional devices.

Findings

Pulse width for switching decreased by over 10 times with OPP addition.

Reliable precessional switching observed for pulses under 200 ps.

In-plane polarizer improves switching at longer and shorter pulses.

Abstract

We report on spin valve devices that incorporate both an out-of-plane polarizer (OPP) to quickly excite spin torque (ST) switching and an in-plane polarizer/analyzer (IPP). For pulses < 200 ps we observe reliable precessional switching due largely to ST from the OPP. Compared to a conventional spin valve, for a given current in the short pulse regime the addition of the OPP can decrease the pulse width necessary for switching by a factor of 10 or more. The influence of the IPP is most obvious at longer, smaller pulses, but also has beneficial ST consequences for short pulse switching.