Large enhancement of the spin Hall effect in Au by scattering with side-jump on Ta impurities

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a significant enhancement of the spin Hall effect in gold alloys doped with tantalum, primarily due to side-jump scattering, making them promising for spintronic applications.

Contribution

It reveals that Ta impurities induce a large spin Hall angle in gold alloys through side-jump scattering, a novel insight into impurity-driven SHE enhancement.

Findings

AuTa alloys achieve a spin Hall angle up to 0.5.

AuW alloys show a maximum spin Hall angle of 0.15.

AuTa alloys have moderate resistivity, suitable for spintronics.

Abstract

We present measurements of the Spin Hall Effect (SHE) in AuW and AuTa alloys for a large range of W or Ta concentrations by combining experiments on lateral spin valves and Ferromagnetic-Resonance/spin pumping technique. The main result is the identification of a large enhancement of the Spin Hall Angle (SHA) by the side-jump mechanism on Ta impurities, with a SHA as high as + 0.5 (i.e $50\%$) for about 10\% of Ta. In contrast the SHA in AuW does not exceed + 0.15 and can be explained by intrinsic SHE of the alloy without significant extrinsic contribution from skew or side-jump scattering by W impurities. The AuTa alloys, as they combine a very large SHA with a moderate resistivity (smaller than $85\,\mu\Omega.cm$), are promising for spintronic devices exploiting the SHE.