Strong, Temperature-Dependent Spin-Orbit Torques in Heavy Fermion YbAl$_3$

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that electronic correlations in the heavy fermion compound YbAl₃ significantly enhance spin-orbit torques at low temperatures, revealing a new avenue for manipulating magnetic memory through many-body quantum states.

Contribution

It shows that many-body Kondo resonance in YbAl₃ enhances spin-orbit torque, a novel finding in strongly correlated materials compared to previous noninteracting models.

Findings

Spin-orbit torque conductivity increases fourfold as temperature decreases to T*

Maximum spin-orbit torque exceeds that of any heavy metal element

Enhancement correlates with the density of states at the Fermi level from Kondo resonance

Abstract

The use of current-generated spin-orbit torques[1] to drive magnetization dynamics is under investigation to enable a new generation of non-volatile, low-power magnetic memory. Previous research has focused on spin-orbit torques generated by heavy metals[2-8], interfaces with strong Rashba interactions[9,10] and topological insulators [11-14]. These families of materials can all be well-described using models with noninteracting-electron bandstructures. Here, we show that electronic interactions within a strongly correlated heavy fermion material, the Kondo lattice system YbAl$_{3}$, can provide a large enhancement in spin-orbit torque. The spin-torque conductivity increases by approximately a factor of 4 as a function of decreasing temperature from room temperature to the coherence temperature of YbAl$_{3}$ ($T^* \approx 37$ K), with a saturation at lower temperatures, achieving a maximum value greater than any heavy metal element. This temperature dependence mimics the increase and saturation at $T^*$ of the density of states at the Fermi level arising from the ytterbium 4$f$-derived heavy bands in the Kondo regime, as measured by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy[15]. We therefore identify the many-body Kondo resonance as the source of the large enhancement of spin-orbit torque in YbAl$_{3}$. Our observation reveals new opportunities in spin-orbit torque manipulation of magnetic memories by engineering quantum many-body states.