Flexible Spin Valves: Interlayer Interaction and Deformation Sensitivity

Exchange-coupled spin valves based on ferromagnetic alloys CoFeNi and antiferromagnetic alloy FeMn are obtained on flexible polyimide substrates by magnetron sputtering. The magnetoresistive properties of films and microstrips of spin valves are measured at various degrees of bending deformation of the sample. The behavior of the dependence of the deformation sensitivity of the spin valve on the interaction between the magnetic layers and on the arrangement of the anisotropy axes with respect to the deformation vector is characterized. It is found that the deformation sensitivity decreases with an increase in the interval between the fields of magnetization reversal of the free and fixed layers in the spin valve.

The Magnetic Properties of Fe/Cu Multilayered Nanowires: The Role of the Number of Fe Layers and Their Thickness

Multi-segmented bilayered Fe/Cu nanowires have been fabricated through the electrodeposition in porous anodic alumina membranes. We have assessed, with the support of micromagnetic simulations, the dependence of fabricated nanostructures’ magnetic properties either on the number of Fe/Cu bilayers or on the length of the magnetic layers, by fixing both the nonmagnetic segment length and the wire diameter. The magnetic reversal, in the segmented Fe nanowires (NWs) with a 300 nm length, occurs through the nucleation and propagation of a vortex domain wall (V-DW) from the extremities of each segment. By increasing the number of bilayers, the coercive field progressively increases due to the small magnetostatic coupling between Fe segments, but the coercivity found in an Fe continuous nanowire is not reached, since the interactions between layers is limited by the Cu separation. On the other hand, Fe segments 30 nm in length have exhibited a vortex configuration, with around 60% of the magnetization pointing parallel to the wires' long axis, which is equivalent to an isolated Fe nanodisc. By increasing the Fe segment length, a magnetic reversal occurred through the nucleation and propagation of a V-DW from the extremities of each segment, similar to what happens in a long cylindrical Fe nanowire. The particular case of the Fe/Cu bilayered nanowires with Fe segments 20 nm in length revealed a magnetization oriented in opposite directions, forming a synthetic antiferromagnetic system with coercivity and remanence values close to zero.

Detecting halfmetallic electronic structures of spintronic materials in a magnetic field

Band-gap engineering is one of the fundamental techniques in semiconductor technology and also applicable in next generation spintronics using the spin degree of freedom. To fully utilize the spintronic materials, it is essential to optimize the spin-dependent electronic structures in the operando conditions by applying magnetic and/or electric fields. Here we present an advanced spectroscopic technique to probe the spin-polarized electronic structures by using magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) in resonant inelastic soft X-ray scattering (RIXS) under an external magnetic field. Thanks to the spin-selective dipole-allowed transitions in RIXS-MCD, we have successfully demonstrated the direct evidence of the perfectly spin-polarized electronic structures for the prototypical halfmetallic Heusller alloy $$\hbox {Co}_2\hbox {MnSi}$$ Co 2 MnSi . RIXS-MCD is a promising tool to probe the spin-dependent carriers and band-gap induced in the buried magnetic layers in an element specific way under the operando conditions.

Possible Routes to Obtain Enhanced Magnetoresistance in a Driven Quantum Heterostructure with a Quasi-Periodic Spacer

In this work, we perform a numerical study of magnetoresistance in a one-dimensional quantum heterostructure, where the change in electrical resistance is measured between parallel and antiparallel configurations of magnetic layers. This layered structure also incorporates a non-magnetic spacer, subjected to quasi-periodic potentials, which is centrally clamped between two ferromagnetic layers. The efficiency of the magnetoresistance is further tuned by injecting unpolarized light on top of the two sided magnetic layers. Modulating the characteristic properties of different layers, the value of magnetoresistance can be enhanced significantly. The site energies of the spacer is modified through the well-known Aubry–André and Harper (AAH) potential, and the hopping parameter of magnetic layers is renormalized due to light irradiation. We describe the Hamiltonian of the layered structure within a tight-binding (TB) framework and investigate the transport properties through this nanojunction following Green’s function formalism. The Floquet–Bloch (FB) anstaz within the minimal coupling scheme is introduced to incorporate the effect of light irradiation in TB Hamiltonian. Several interesting features of magnetotransport properties are represented considering the interplay between cosine modulated site energies of the central region and the hopping integral of the magnetic regions that are subjected to light irradiation. Finally, the effect of temperature on magnetoresistance is also investigated to make the model more realistic and suitable for device designing. Our analysis is purely a numerical one, and it leads to some fundamental prescriptions of obtaining enhanced magnetoresistance in multilayered systems.

Investigation of Multilayer Nanostructures of Magnetic Straintronics Based on the Anisotropic Magnetoresistive Effect

The article presents the results of experimental studies of multilayer nanostructures of magnetic straintronics formed by magnetron sputtering on a 100 mm silicon wafer. The object of the study is two types of nanostructures: Ta/FeNiCo/CoFe/Ta and Ta/FeNi/CoFe/Ta, differing in the ratio of magnetic layers. The magnetic and magnetoresistive characteristics of multilayer nanostructures under varying mechanical loads are studied both on a 100 mm wafer and in the form of 4 × 20 mm2 samples of two types. The first, where the axis of easy magnetization is directed along the long side of the sample, and the second, where the axis of easy magnetization is a tilt at 45°. Based on the obtained data, the conclusions about the practical application of these nanostructures in magnetic straintronics elements are drawn.

Multiple Walker Breakdowns in Magnetic Multilayers

Herein, we report an exotic domain-wall dynamics showing double Walker breakdowns in magnetic multilayer films composed of two magnetic layers. Such multiple Walker breakdowns are attributed to the internal magnetic dipole field, which is antisymmetric on the domain walls of the lower and upper magnetic layers. A micromagnetic simulation shows four phases of the domain-wall dynamics, which result in a phase diagram with the phase boundaries of the double Walker breakdown fields. Such double Walker breakdowns lead to two minima in the variation of the domain-wall velocity, as often observed experimentally.

Detecting halfmetallic electronic structures of spintronic materials in a magnetic field

Band-gap engineering is one of the fundamental techniques in semiconductor technology and also applicable in the next generation spintronics using the spin degrees of freedom. To fully utilize the spintronic material, it is essential to optimize the spin-dependent electronic structures in the operando conditions by applying the magnetic and/or electric fields. Here we present a new spectroscopic technique to probe the spin-polarized electronic structures by using magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) in the resonant inelastic soft X-ray scattering (RIXS) under an external magnetic field. Thanks to the spin-selective dipole-allowed transitions in the RIXS-MCD, we have successfully demonstrated the direct evidence of the perfectly spin-polarized electronic structures for the prototypical halfmetallic Heusller alloy, Co2MnSi. The RIXS-MCD is a promising tool to probe the spin-dependent carriers and band-gap with element specific way induced in the buried magnetic layers under the operando conditions.

Minimization of the Electric Energy in Systems Using Ultra-High Density Magnetic Storage

We present an optimization of the thickness of the magnetic layers that serve to record the information of the daily need in order to minimize the useful electrical energy. The study provides details on the energy activation and distribution of the energy barriers in the samples of thickness . We find that distribution of the energy barriers , its distribution width , the real activation field are lowest in the sample of thickness , hence this sample allows to use less electrical energy for information recording.