Manipulation of Spin-Orbit Torque in Tungsten Oxide/Manganite Heterostructure by Ionic Liquid Gating and Orbit Engineering.

Liu, Weikang; Liu, Liang; Cui, Bin; Cheng, Shaobo; Wu, Xinyi; Cheng, Bin; Miao, Tingting; Ren, Xue et al. · ACS Nano · 2023

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is the interaction between electron's spin and orbital motion, which could realize a charge-to-spin current conversion and enable an innovative method to switch the magnetization by spin-orbit torque (SOT). Varied techniques have been developed to manipulate and improve the SOT, but the role of the orbit degree of freedom, which should have a crucial bearing on the SOC and SOT, is still confusing. Here, we find that the charge-to-spin current conversion and SOT in W<sub>3</sub>O<sub>8-δ</sub>/(La, Sr)MnO<sub>3</sub> could be produced or eliminated by ionic liquid gating. Through tuning the preferential occupancy of Mn/W-<i>d</i> electrons from the in-plane (<i>d</i><sub><i>x</i><sup>2</sup>-<i>y</i><sup>2</sup></sub>) to out-of-plane (<i>d</i><sub>3<i>z</i><sup>2</sup>-<i>r</i><sup>2</sup></sub>) orbit, the SOT damping-like field efficiency is nearly doubled due to the enhanced spin Hall effect and interfacial Rashba-Edelstein effect. These findings not only offer intriguing opportunities to control the SOT for high-efficient spintronic devices but also could be a fundamental step toward spin-orbitronics in the future.