Compensated magnetic insulators for extremely fast spin-orbitronics

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that compensated ferrimagnetic insulators can support extremely fast domain wall motion driven by spin-orbit torque, reaching velocities up to 6000 m/s, promising for ultrahigh-speed spintronic devices.

Contribution

It introduces insulating compensated ferrimagnets as a new material platform for ultrafast spin-orbitronics, achieving record domain wall velocities.

Findings

Domain walls in Gd3Fe5O12/Pt racetracks reach 6000 m/s.

Fast DW motion is enabled by low damping in insulating FIMs.

Potential for ultrahigh-speed spintronic applications.

Abstract

The fast spin dynamics provide many opportunities for the future communication and memory technologies. One of the most promising examples is the domain wall (DW) racetrack memory. To achieve fast device performances, the high-speed motion of DWs is naturally demanded that leaves antiferromagnets (AFMs) and compensated ferrimagnets (FIMs) as the promising materials. While controlling and probing the dynamics of DWs in AFMs remains challenging, the fast motion of DWs with velocities around 1500 m/s has been demonstrated in metallic FIMs. The velocity of DWs in metallic FIMs is, however, suppressed by the magnetic damping of conduction electrons, which motivates us to explore how fast DWs can move in insulating FIMs where the conduction electron is absent. In this work, through synthesizing compensated FIM insulator Gd3Fe5O12 thin films with a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, we demonstrate that the spin-orbit torque (SOT) induced motion of DWs along the Gd3Fe5O12/Pt racetrack can approach 6000 m/s. Our results show that the exceptionally fast motion of DWs can be achieved in compensated FIM insulators owing to small damping inherent to magnetic insulators, which could potentially facilitate the emerging ultrahigh-speed spintronic logics and racetrack memories by introducing insulating compensated FIMs as a new material platform.