Electrical Detection of DC Spin Current Propagation Through an Epitaxial Antiferromagnetic NiO Layer

• Published in: IEEE transactions on magnetics Vol. 57; no. 2; pp. 1 - 5
• Main Authors: Newman, D. G., Dabrowski, M., Keatley, P. S., Li, Q., Yang, M., Marmion, S. R., Hickey, B. J., Qiu, Z.-Q., Hicken, R. J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.02.2021; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Antiferromagnetism; Antiferromagnets; Current measurement; Direct current; Epitaxial growth; Ferromagnetism; Hall effect; inverse spin Hall effect (ISHE); IP networks; Magnetic multilayers; Magnetic resonance; Magnetism; Magnetoresistance; Magnetoresistivity; Nickel oxides; Propagation; Radio frequency; spin currents; Spintronics; Voltage measurement
• ISSN: 0018-9464; 1941-0069
• DOI: 10.1109/TMAG.2020.3009444

A method for detecting dc spin current propagation through an epitaxial antiferromagnetic (AFM) NiO layer is presented. Spin current is generated by spin pumping from an adjoining ferromagnetic (FM) layer and detected in a non-magnetic metallic layer by the inverse spin Hall effect. Comparison is made with a YIG/Pt bilayer, where only the Pt layer is electrically conducting, but for which spin Hall magnetoresistance makes an additional contribution to the measured signal. The signal obtained from the multilayered stack containing the AFM NiO layer is found to contain additional contributions due to anisotropic magnetoresistance. By exciting the sample with out-of-plane rf magnetic field and making measurements with a static field applied at different orientations within the plane of the sample, a signal associated with the dc spin current may be identified.