Strongly heat-assisted spin–orbit torque switching of a ferrimagnetic insulator
Zheyu Ren,
Kun Qian,
Mohammed Aldosary,
Yuting Liu,
Shun Kong Cheung,
Isaac Ng,
Jing Shi,
Qiming Shao
Affiliations
Zheyu Ren
Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China
Kun Qian
Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China
Mohammed Aldosary
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Riverside, California 92521, USA
Yuting Liu
Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China
Shun Kong Cheung
Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China
Isaac Ng
Department of Physics, Center for Quantum Materials, William Mong Institute of Nano Science and Technology, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China
Jing Shi
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Riverside, California 92521, USA
Qiming Shao
Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China
Ferrimagnetic insulators promise low-power and high-speed spintronic applications, thanks to their insulating nature and fast dynamics near compensation points. In a ferrimagnetic insulator/heavy metal heterostructure, we investigate field- and current-induced magnetization switching at various temperatures and observe distinct magnetization switching behaviors owing to spin–orbit torque (SOT) and heating effect. We have realized SOT switching across the magnetization compensation temperature and discovered that the SOT switching is strongly heat-assisted: the temperature is always above the compensation temperature while the SOT switching happens in our case. Moreover, we show that the SOT efficiency is strongly magnetization-dependent by characterizing the current dependence of SOT efficiency and explaining the anomalous SOT switching back phenomena in the presence of a titled external field. Our results reveal the critical role of Joule heating on the dynamics of magnetic insulators and pave the way for the application of spintronic devices based on magnetic insulators.
