Spin-torque generation in topological insulator based heterostructures
Type
ArticleKAUST Department
Material Science and Engineering ProgramPhysical Science and Engineering (PSE) Division
Spintronics Theory Group
Date
2016-03-11Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/603505
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Heterostructures utilizing topological insulators exhibit a remarkable spin-torque efficiency. However, the exact origin of the strong torque, in particular whether it stems from the spin-momentum locking of the topological surface states or rather from spin-Hall physics of the topological-insulator bulk, remains unclear. Here, we explore a mechanism of spin-torque generation purely based on the topological surface states. We consider topological-insulator-based bilayers involving ferromagnetic metal (TI/FM) and magnetically doped topological insulators (TI/mdTI), respectively. By ascribing the key theoretical differences between the two setups to location and number of active surface states, we describe both setups within the same framework of spin diffusion of the nonequilibrium spin density of the topological surface states. For the TI/FM bilayer, we find large spin-torque efficiencies of roughly equal magnitude for both in-plane and out-of-plane spin torques. For the TI/mdTI bilayer, we elucidate the dominance of the spin-transfer-like torque. However, we cannot explain the orders of magnitude enhancement reported. Nevertheless, our model gives an intuitive picture of spin-torque generation in topological-insulator-based bilayers and provides theoretical constraints on spin-torque generation due to topological surface states.Citation
Spin-torque generation in topological insulator based heterostructures 2016, 93 (12) Physical Review BSponsors
The authors are grateful to A. Mellnik and D. Ralph for helpful discussions.M.H.F. and E.-A.K. acknowledge support from NSF Grant No. DMR-0955822 and from NSF Grant No. DMR-1120296 to the Cornell Center for Materials Research. M.H.F. further acknowledges the Swiss Society of Friends of the Weizmann Institute of Science. A.M. was supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).Publisher
American Physical Society (APS)Journal
Physical Review BarXiv
1305.1328Additional Links
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.93.125303ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1103/PhysRevB.93.125303