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Spin Seebeck Imaging of Spin-Torque Switching in Antiferromagnetic Pt/NiO Heterostructures

Cornell Affiliated Author(s)

Author

Isaiah Gray
Takahiro Moriyama
Nikhil Sivadas
Gregory Stiehl
John Heron
Ryan Need
Brian Kirby
David Low
Katja Nowack
Darrell Schlom
Daniel Ralph
Teruo Ono
Gregory Fuchs

Abstract

As electrical control of Neél order opens the door to reliable antiferromagnetic spintronic devices, understanding the microscopic mechanisms of antiferromagnetic switching is crucial. Spatially resolved studies are necessary to distinguish multiple nonuniform switching mechanisms; however, progress has been hindered by the lack of tabletop techniques to image the Neél order. We demonstrate spin Seebeck microscopy as a sensitive tabletop method for imaging antiferromagnetism in thin films and apply this technique to study spin-torque switching in Pt/NiO and Pt/NiO/Pt heterostructures. We establish the interfacial antiferromagnetic spin Seebeck effect in NiO as a probe of surface Neél order. By imaging before and after applying current-induced spin torque, we resolve spin domain rotation and domain wall motion. We correlate the changes in spin Seebeck images with electrical measurements of the average Neél orientation through the spin Hall magnetoresistance, confirming that we image antiferromagnetic order. © 2019 authors. Published by the American Physical Society. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

Date Published

Journal

American Physical Society (APS)

Volume

9

Issue

4

URL

https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85074451249&doi=10.1103%2fPhysRevX.9.041016&partnerID=40&md5=5cb9b8891a802d69b2ce69c2e0ad61ee

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevX.9.041016

Group (Lab)

Katja Nowack Group

Funding Source

1719875

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