Tuning the interfacial spin-orbit coupling with ferroelectricity.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 32457302.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-16401-7 and PMC identifier 7250895.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Detection and manipulation of spin current lie in the core of spintronics. Here we report an active control of a net spin Hall angle, θSHE(net), in Pt at an interface with a ferroelectric material PZT (PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3), using its ferroelectric polarization. The spin Hall angle in the ultra-thin Pt layer is measured using the inverse spin Hall effect with a pulsed tunneling current from a ferromagnetic La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 electrode. The effect of the ferroelectric polarization on θSHE(net) is enhanced when the thickness of the Pt layer is reduced. When the Pt layer is thinner than 6 nm, switching the ferroelectric polarization even changes the sign of θSHE(net). This is attributed to the reversed polarity of the spin Hall angle in the 1st-layer Pt at the PZT/Pt interface when the ferroelectric polarization is inverted, as supported by the first-principles calculations. These findings suggest a route for designing future energy efficient spin-orbitronic devices using ferroelectric control.