Enhancement of spintronic terahertz emission enabled by increasing Hall angle and interfacial skew scattering

Yangkai Wang; Weiwei Li; Hao Cheng; Zheng Liu; Zhangzhang Cui; Jun Huang; Bing Xiong; Jiwen Yang; Haoliang Huang; Jianlin Wang; Zhengping Fu; Qiuping Huang; Yalin Lu

doi:10.1038/s42005-023-01402-x

Communications Physics (Sep 2023)

Enhancement of spintronic terahertz emission enabled by increasing Hall angle and interfacial skew scattering

Yangkai Wang,
Weiwei Li,
Hao Cheng,
Zheng Liu,
Zhangzhang Cui,
Jun Huang,
Bing Xiong,
Jiwen Yang,
Haoliang Huang,
Jianlin Wang,
Zhengping Fu,
Qiuping Huang,
Yalin Lu

Affiliations

Yangkai Wang: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China
Weiwei Li: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China
Hao Cheng: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China
Zheng Liu: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China
Zhangzhang Cui: Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China
Jun Huang: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China
Bing Xiong: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China
Jiwen Yang: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China
Haoliang Huang: Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China
Jianlin Wang: Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China
Zhengping Fu: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China
Qiuping Huang: Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China
Yalin Lu: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-023-01402-x
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 6, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

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Abstract Spintronic terahertz (THz) emitters (STEs) based on magnetic heterostructures have emerged as promising THz sources. However, it is still a challenge to achieve a higher intensity STE to satisfy all kinds of practical applications. Herein, we report a STE based on Pt0.93(MgO)0.07/CoFeB nanofilm by introducing dispersed MgO impurities into Pt, which reaches a 200% intensity compared to Pt/CoFeB and approaches the signal of 500 μm ZnTe crystal under the same pump power. We obtain a smaller spin diffusion length of Pt0.93(MgO)0.07 and an increased thickness-dependent spin Hall angle relative to the undoped Pt. We also find that the thickness of a Pt layer leads to a drastic change in the interface role in the spintronic THz emission, suggesting that the underlying mechanism of THz emission enhancement is a combined effect of enhanced bulk spin hall angle and the interfacial skew scattering by MgO impurities. Our findings demonstrate a simple way to realize high-efficiency, stable, advanced spintronic THz devices.

Published in Communications Physics

ISSN: 2399-3650 (Online)
Publisher: Nature Portfolio
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Science: Astronomy: Astrophysics; Science: Physics
Website: https://www.nature.com/commsphys/

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