Control of the noncollinear interlayer exchange coupling
- Author(s)
- Zachary R. Nunn, Claas Abert, Dieter Suess, Erol Girt
- Abstract
Interlayer exchange coupling in transition metal multilayers has been intensively studied for more than three decades and is incorporated into almost all spintronic devices. With the current spacer layers, only collinear magnetic alignment can be reliably achieved; however, controlling the coupling angle has the potential to markedly expand the use of interlayer exchange coupling. Here, we show that the coupling angle between the magnetic moments of two ferromagnetic layers can be precisely controlled by inserting a specially designed magnetic metallic spacer layer between them. The coupling angle is controlled solely by the composition of the spacer layer. Moreover, the biquadratic coupling strength, responsible for noncollinear alignment, is larger than that of current materials. These properties allow for the fabrication and study of not yet realized magnetic structures that have the potential to improve existing spintronic devices.
- Organisation(s)
- Research Platform MMM Mathematics-Magnetism-Materials, Physics of Functional Materials
- External organisation(s)
- Simon Fraser University
- Journal
- Science Advances
- Volume
- 6
- No. of pages
- 7
- ISSN
- 2375-2548
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abd8861
- Publication date
- 11-2020
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 103017 Magnetism, 103018 Materials physics
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General
- Portal url
- https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/control-of-the-noncollinear-interlayer-exchange-coupling(4df5d4db-8b89-4c6d-978f-dd5ef6828341).html