Pure spin-Hall magnetoresistance in Rh/Y3Fe5O12 hybrid

TL;DR

This study compares spin-Hall magnetoresistance in Rh/YIG and Pt/YIG hybrids, revealing that Pt exhibits proximity-induced magnetization while Rh does not, making Rh/YIG a model for pure spin current research.

Contribution

It demonstrates that Rh/YIG hybrid exhibits pure spin current behavior without magnetic proximity effects, unlike Pt/YIG.

Findings

Pt/YIG shows large SMR and CAMR, with temperature-dependent AHR.

Rh/YIG exhibits reduced SMR and negligible CAMR and AHR.

Rh/YIG is an ideal system to study pure spin current phenomena.

Abstract

We report an investigation of anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) and anomalous Hall resistance (AHR) of Rh and Pt thin films sputtered on epitaxial Y$_3$Fe$_5$O$_{12}$ (YIG) ferromagnetic insulator films. For the Pt/YIG hybrid, large spin-Hall magnetoresistance (SMR) along with a sizable conventional anisotropic magnetoresistance (CAMR) and a nontrivial temperature dependence of AHR were observed in the temperature range of 5-300 K. In contrast, a reduced SMR with negligible CAMR and AHR was found in Rh/YIG hybrid. Since CAMR and AHR are characteristics for all ferromagnetic metals, our results suggest that the Pt is likely magnetized by YIG due to the magnetic proximity effect (MPE) while Rh remains free of MPE. Thus the Rh/YIG hybrid could be an ideal model system to explore physics and devices associated with pure spin current.