Probing of large interfacial contribution to spin orbit coupling in CoFeB/Ta heterostructure by ultrafast THz emission spectroscopy

TL;DR

This study uses ultrafast THz emission spectroscopy to investigate the large interfacial contribution to spin orbit coupling in CoFeB/Ta heterostructures, revealing temperature-dependent effects and a sign reversal in the spin Hall angle.

Contribution

It uncovers the significant interfacial contribution to spin Hall effects in CoFeB/Ta, especially after annealing, and compares intrinsic and extrinsic spin to charge conversion mechanisms.

Findings

Enhanced THz emission with temperature variation.

Polarity reversal of THz signal upon annealing.

Large interfacial contribution to spin Hall angle.

Abstract

Ultrafast THz radiation generation from ferromagnetic/nonmagnetic bilayer heterostructure-based spintronic emitters generally exploits the conversion from spin- to charge-current within the nonmagnetic layer and its interface with the ferromagnetic layer. Various possible sub-contributions to the underlying mechanism of inverse spin Hall effect for the THz emission from such structures, need to be exploited for not only investigating the intricacies at the fundamental level in the material properties themselves but also for improving their performance for broadband and high-power THz emission. Here, we report ultrafast THz emission from CoFeB/Ta bilayer at varying sample temperatures in a large range to unravel the role of intrinsic and extrinsic spin to charge conversion processes. In addition to an enhancement in the THz emission, its temperature dependence shows a THz signal polarity reversal if the CoFeB/Ta sample is annealed at an elevated temperature. We extract the behaviour of the spin Hall resistivity, determine the intrinsic spin Hall conductivity contribution in it and compare those with the standard Fe/Pt system. Our results clearly demonstrate a giant interfacial contribution to the overall spin Hall angle arising from the modified interface in the annealed CoFeB/Ta, where a sign reversal in the corresponding spin Hall angle is manifested from the THz amplitude variation with the temperature.