Spin Seebeck imaging of spin-torque switching in antiferromagnetic Pt/NiO/Pt heterostructures

ORAL

Abstract

We demonstrate spin Seebeck microscopy as a sensitive table-top method for imaging in-plane antiferromagnetic order in thin films. In Pt/NiO(111)/Pt samples, we resolve antiferromagnetic spin domains within crystalline twin domains and image the effects of DC current-induced spin-orbit torque switching. We find a linear correlation between spin-torque-induced changes in the integrated spin Seebeck signal and the spin Hall magnetoresistance, confirming that we image the Néel order. The measurements show that changes driven by spin-orbit torque can occur both by antiferromagnetic domain wall motion and domain flopping, and only a small fraction of the NiO sample is altered.

*This research was supported by the Cornell Center for Materials Research with funding from the NSF MRSEC program (DMR-1719875) and by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP15H05702, JP17H04924, and JP17H05181. This work made use of the CCMR Shared Facilities and the Cornell NanoScale Facility, an NNCI member supported by NSF Grant ECCS-1542081.

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Presenters

  • Isaiah Gray

    • Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University

Authors

  • Isaiah Gray

    • Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University

  • Takahiro Moriyama

    • Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University

  • Nikhil Sivadas

    • Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University
    • Cornell University

  • Ryan Need

    • National Institute of Standards and Technology
    • Materials Department, University of California, Santa Barbara
    • NIST Center for Neutron Research, National Institute for Standards and Technology

  • Brian Kirby

    • National Institute of Standards and Technology
    • NIST Center for Neutron Research, National Institute for Standards and Technology
    • NIST Center for Neutron Research

  • David Low

    • Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University
    • Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University
    • Cornell University

  • Gregory Stiehl

    • Cornell University
    • Department of Physics, Cornell University

  • John Heron

    • Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan
    • Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
    • University of Michigan

  • Daniel Ralph

    • Cornell University
    • Department of Physics, Cornell University

  • Katja Nowack

    • Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University
    • Department of Physics, Cornell University
    • Cornell University

  • Teruo Ono

    • Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University

  • Gregory Fuchs

    • Cornell University
    • Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University
    • School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University