Anti-damping spin transfer torque through epitaxial Nickel oxide

TL;DR

This study demonstrates efficient spin transfer through epitaxial NiO, revealing angular momentum transfer in antiferromagnetic insulators with potential implications for spintronic devices.

Contribution

It provides experimental evidence of anti-damping spin transfer torque through epitaxial NiO, highlighting the role of epitaxial quality and magnetic orientation.

Findings

Angular momentum transfer occurs through NiO.

High efficiency of spin transfer in epitaxial NiO.

Dependence of FMR linewidth on spin current injection.

Abstract

We prepare the high quality epitaxial MgO(001)[100]/Pt(001)[100]/NiO(001)[100]/FeNi/SiO2 films to investigate the spin transport in the NiO antiferromagnetic insulator. The ferromagnetic resonance measurements of the FeNi under a spin current injection from the Pt by the spin Hall effect revealed the change of the ferromagnetic resonance linewidth depending on the amount of the spin current injection. The results can be interpreted that there is an angular momentum transfer through the NiO. A high efficient angular momentum transfer we observed in the epitaxial NiO can be attributed to the well-defined orientation of the antiferromagnetic moments and the spin quantization axis of the injected spin current.