Coherent ac spin current transmission across an antiferromagnetic CoO insulator

 · Invited

Abstract

The recent discovery of spin current transmission through antiferromagnetic insulating materials opens up vast opportunities for fundamental physics and spintronics applications. The question currently surrounding this topic is: whether and how could THz antiferromagnetic magnons mediate a GHz spin current? This mismatch of frequencies becomes particularly critical for the case of coherent ac spin current, raising the fundamental question of whether a GHz ac spin current can ever keep its coherence inside an antiferromagnetic insulator and so drive the spin precession of another ferromagnet layer coherently? Utilizing element- and time-resolved x-ray pump-probe measurements on Py/Ag/CoO/Ag/ Fe75Co25/MgO(001) heterostructures, here we demonstrate that a coherent GHz ac spin current pumped by the Py ferromagnetic resonance can transmit coherently across an antiferromagnetic CoO insulating layer to drive a coherent spin precession of the Fe75Co25 layer.

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Presenters

  • Qian Li

    • University of Science and Technology of China

Authors

  • Qian Li

    • University of Science and Technology of China

  • Mengmeng Yang

    • UC Berkeley

  • Christoph Klewe

    • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
    • Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

  • Padraic Shafer

    • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
    • Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

  • Alpha N'Diaye

    • Advanced Light Source
    • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
    • Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
    • Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, E O Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, US, academic/govt
    • Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA

  • Dazhi Hou

    • Tohoku University

  • Tianye Wang

    • UC Berkeley

  • Nan Gao

    • UC Berkeley

  • Eiji Saitoh

    • Tohoku University
    • The University of Tokyo
    • Department of Applied Physics, The University of Tokyo
    • Department of Applied Physics, University of Tokyo

  • Chanyong Hwang

    • Korea Research Inst of Standards and Science (KRISS)

  • Robert J Hicken

    • University of Exeter

  • Jia Li

    • Peking University

  • Elke Arenholz

    • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
    • Lawrence Berkeley Natl Lab
    • Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

  • Ziqiang Qiu

    • UC Berkeley