Strong bulk spin-orbit torques quantified in the van der Waals ferromagnet Fe3GeTe2

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that the van der Waals ferromagnet Fe3GeTe2 exhibits strong bulk spin-orbit torques, enabling magnetization control in thick single layers without multilayer structures, due to its unique crystal symmetry.

Contribution

It is the first to quantify bulk spin-orbit torques in Fe3GeTe2, revealing their dominance and potential for simpler magnetic device engineering.

Findings

Fe3GeTe2 exhibits dominant bulk SOTs from crystal symmetry.

Bulk SOTs enable magnetization manipulation in thick layers.

Fe3GeTe2's structure allows for SOTs without multilayer engineering.

Abstract

The recent emergence of magnetic van der Waals materials allows for the investigation of current induced magnetization manipulation in two dimensional materials. Uniquely, Fe3GeTe2 has a crystalline structure that allows for the presence of bulk spin-orbit torques (SOTs), that we quantify in a Fe3GeTe2 flake. From the symmetry of the measured torques, we identify the current induced effective fields using harmonic analysis and find dominant bulk SOTs, which arise from the symmetry in the crystal structure. Our results show that Fe3GeTe2 uniquely can exhibit bulk SOTs in addition to the conventional interfacial SOTs enabling magnetization manipulation even in thick single layers without the need for complex multilayer engineering.