Orbital to charge current conversion in copper oxide heterostructures

TL;DR

This study demonstrates how orbital angular momentum can be converted into charge current in copper oxide heterostructures, revealing a strong dependence on layer thickness and emphasizing the importance of orbital degrees of freedom in orbitronics.

Contribution

It provides experimental evidence of orbital-to-charge current conversion in CuO heterostructures using orbital pumping and the inverse orbital Hall effect.

Findings

IOHE-induced voltage varies with CuO thickness

Efficient orbital-to-charge conversion observed

Insights into orbitronics with transition-metal oxides

Abstract

We investigate the orbital-to-charge current conversion in CoFeB|CuO bilayers as a function of CuO thickness, employing orbital pumping via ferromagnetic resonance. The dynamic injection of orbital angular momentum into the CuO layer generates a transverse voltage through the Inverse Orbital Hall Effect (IOHE). By systematically varying the CuO thickness from 2 nm to 30 nm, we observe a pronounced dependence of the IOHE-induced voltage on the CuO layer thickness, indicating efficient orbital-to-charge conversion. These results highlight the key role of the orbital degree of freedom in orbitronics and provide insights into the potential of transition-metal oxides for next-generation orbitronic devices.