Extremely Large Anisotropy of Effective Gilbert Damping in Half-Metallic CrO2

TL;DR

This study reveals an extremely large anisotropy in the effective Gilbert damping of CrO2 thin films, indicating strong spin-orbit coupling anisotropy with potential implications for magnonic computing.

Contribution

It reports the first observation of giant anisotropy (~1600%) in Gilbert damping in CrO2, surpassing conventional ferromagnets, and explores its temperature-dependent behavior.

Findings

Giant anisotropy (~1600%) of Gilbert damping in CrO2

Opposite temperature-dependent behaviors below 50 K for different magnetic field directions

Strong spin-orbit coupling anisotropy in CrO2

Abstract

Half-metals are a class of quantum materials with 100% spin-polarization at the Fermi level and have attracted a lot of attention for future spintronic device applications. CrO2 is one of the most promising half-metal candidates, for which the electrical and magnetic properties have been intensively studied in the last several decades. Here, we report the observation of a giant anisotropy (~1600%) of effective Gilbert damping in the single crystalline half metallic (100)-CrO2 thin films, which is significantly larger than the values observed on conventional ferromagnetic Fe and CoFe thin films. Furthermore, the effective Gilbert damping exhibits opposite temperature-dependent behaviors below 50 K with magnetic field along [010] direction and near [001] direction. These experimental results suggest the strong spin-orbit coupling anisotropy of the half-metallic CrO2 and might pave the way for future magnonic computing applications.