Rashba-Edelstein Magnetoresistance in Metallic Heterostructure

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates Rashba-Edelstein magnetoresistance in a metallic heterostructure, showing how spin accumulation affects resistance via SOC effects, with potential implications for spintronic devices.

Contribution

It reports the first observation of Rashba-Edelstein magnetoresistance in a Bi/Ag/CoFeB heterostructure, highlighting the role of direct and inverse RE effects in coupling spin and charge.

Findings

Resistance varies with magnetic-field angle, similar to spin Hall magnetoresistance.

Resistance increases with magnetic-field strength even when magnetization is saturated.

The observed effects are attributed to Rashba SOC and Hanle magnetoresistance.

Abstract

We report the observation of magnetoresistance originating from Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in a metallic heterostructure: the Rashba-Edelstein (RE) magnetoresistance. We show that the simultaneous action of the direct and inverse RE effects in a Bi/Ag/CoFeB trilayer couples current-induced spin accumulation to the electric resistance. The electric resistance changes with the magnetic-field angle, reminiscent of the spin Hall magnetoresistance, despite the fact that bulk SOC is not responsible for the magnetoresistance. We further found that, even when the magnetization is saturated, the resistance increases with increasing the magnetic-field strength, which is attributed to the Hanle magnetoresistance in this system.