Observation of Magnetic State Dependent Thermoelectricity in Superconducting Spin Valves.

Superconductor-ferromagnet tunnel junctions demonstrate giant thermoelectric effects that are being exploited to engineer ultrasensitive terahertz radiation detectors. Here, we experimentally observe the recently predicted complete magnetic control over thermoelectric effects in a superconducting spin valve, including the dependence of its sign on the magnetic state of the spin valve. The description of the experimental results is improved by the introduction of an interfacial domain wall in the spin filter layer interfacing the superconductor. Surprisingly, the application of high in-plane magnetic fields induces a double sign inversion of the thermoelectric effect, which exhibits large values even at applied fields twice the superconducting critical field.

Artificial Neuron Based on the Bloch-Point Domain Wall in Ferromagnetic Nanowires.

Nanomagnetism and spintronics are currently active areas of research, with one of the main goals being the creation of low-energy-consuming magnetic memories based on nanomagnet switching. These types of devices could also be implemented in neuromorphic computing by crafting artificial neurons (ANs) that emulate the characteristics of biological neurons through the implementation of neuron models such as the widely used leaky integrate-and-fire (LIF) with a refractory period. In this study, we have carried out numerical simulations of a 120 nm diameter, 250 nm length ferromagnetic nanowire (NW) with the aim of exploring the design of an artificial neuron based on the creation and destruction of a Bloch-point domain wall. To replicate signal integration, we applied pulsed trains of spin currents to the opposite faces of the ferromagnetic NW. These pulsed currents (previously studied only in the continuous form) are responsible for inducing transitions between the stable single vortex (SV) state and the metastable Bloch point domain wall (BP-DW) state. To ensure the system exhibits leak and refractory properties, the NW was placed in a homogeneous magnetic field of the order of mT in the axial direction. The suggested configuration fulfills the requirements and characteristics of a biological neuron, potentially leading to the future creation of artificial neural networks (ANNs) based on reversible changes in the topology of magnetic NWs.

Bias polarity dependent low-frequency noise in ultra-thin AlOx-based magnetic tunnel junctions.

We exploit bias polarity dependent low-frequency noise (LFN) spectroscopy to investigate charge transport dynamics in ultra-thin AlOx-based magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) with bipolar resistive switching (RS). By measuring the noise characteristics across the entire bias voltage range of bipolar RS, we find that the voltage noise level exhibits an bias polarity dependence. This distinct feature is intimately correlated with reconfiguring of the inherently existing oxygen vacancies ( V O . . ) in as-grown MTJ devices during the SET and RESET switching processes. In addition, we observe two-level random telegraph noise (RTN) with a longer and shorter tunneling length in the high resistance state (HRS) and low resistance state (LRS) at a low bias voltage. The intrinsic voltage fluctuations of RTN arise from the dynamics of electron trapping/de-trapping processes at the V O . . -related trap sites. Notably, the RTN magnitude is similar in LRS but nonidentical in that of HRS for different bias polarity. These findings strongly suggest that the inherent V O . . are distributed near the top CoFe/AlOx interface in the HRS; in contrast, they are expanded to the middle region of the AlOx in the LRS. More importantly, we demonstrate that the location and distribution of the inherent V O . . can be electrically tuned, which plays an essential role in the charge transport dynamics in the ultra-thin AlOx-based MTJs and have significant implications for developing emergent memory and logic devices.

Superconductivity assisted change of the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in V/MgO/Fe junctions.

Controlling the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in thin films has received considerable attention in recent years due to its technological importance. PMA based devices usually involve heavy-metal (oxide)/ferromagnetic-metal bilayers, where, thanks to interfacial spin-orbit coupling (SOC), the in-plane (IP) stability of the magnetisation is broken. Here we show that in V/MgO/Fe(001) epitaxial junctions with competing in-plane and out-of-plane (OOP) magnetic anisotropies, the SOC mediated interaction between a ferromagnet (FM) and a superconductor (SC) enhances the effective PMA below the superconducting transition. This produces a partial magnetisation reorientation without any applied field for all but the largest junctions, where the IP anisotropy is more robust; for the smallest junctions there is a reduction of the field required to induce a complete OOP transition ([Formula: see text]) due to the stronger competition between the IP and OOP anisotropies. Our results suggest that the degree of effective PMA could be controlled by the junction lateral size in the presence of superconductivity and an applied electric field. We also discuss how the [Formula: see text] field could be affected by the interaction between magnetic stray fields and superconducting vortices. Our experimental findings, supported by numerical modelling of the ferromagnet-superconductor interaction, open pathways to active control of magnetic anisotropy in the emerging dissipation-free superconducting spin electronics.

Symmetry broken spin reorientation transition in epitaxial MgO/Fe/MgO layers with competing anisotropies.

The observation of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) at MgO/Fe interfaces boosted the development of spintronic devices based on ultrathin ferromagnetic layers. Yet, magnetization reversal in the standard magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) with competing PMA and in-plane anisotropies remains unclear. Here we report on the field induced nonvolatile broken symmetry magnetization reorientation transition from the in-plane to the perpendicular (out of plane) state at temperatures below 50 K. The samples were 10 nm thick Fe in MgO/Fe(100)/MgO as stacking components of V/MgO/Fe/MgO/Fe/Co double barrier MTJs with an area of 20 × 20 µm2. Micromagnetic simulations with PMA and different second order anisotropies at the opposite Fe/MgO interfaces qualitatively reproduce the observed broken symmetry spin reorientation transition. Our findings open the possibilities to develop multistate epitaxial spintronics based on competing magnetic anisotropies.

Information processing in patterned magnetic nanostructures with edge spin waves.

Low dissipation data processing with spins is one of the promising directions for future information and communication technologies. Despite a significant progress, the available magnonic devices are not broadband yet and have restricted capabilities to redirect spin waves. Here we propose a breakthrough approach to spin wave manipulation in patterned magnetic nanostructures with unmatched characteristics, which exploits a spin wave analogue to edge waves propagating along a water-wall boundary. Using theory, micromagnetic simulations and experiment we investigate spin waves propagating along the edges in magnetic structures, under an in-plane DC magnetic field inclined with respect to the edge. The proposed edge spin waves overcome important challenges faced by previous technologies such as the manipulation of the spin wave propagation direction, and they substantially improve the capability of transmitting information at frequencies exceeding 10 GHz. The concept of the edge spin waves allows to design a broad of logic devices such as splitters, interferometers, or edge spin wave transistors with unprecedented characteristics and a potentially strong impact on information technologies.

Microwave-stimulated superconductivity due to presence of vortices.

The response of superconducting devices to electromagnetic radiation is a core concept implemented in diverse applications, ranging from the currently used voltage standard to single photon detectors in astronomy. Suprisingly, a sufficiently high power subgap radiation may stimulate superconductivity itself. The possibility of stimulating type II superconductors, in which the radiation may interact also with vortex cores, remains however unclear. Here we report on superconductivity enhanced by GHz radiation in type II superconducting Pb films in the presence of vortices. The stimulation effect is more clearly observed in the upper critical field and less pronounced in the critical temperature. The magnetic field dependence of the vortex related microwave losses in a film with periodic pinning reveals a reduced dissipation of mobile vortices in the stimulated regime due to a reduction of the core size. Results of numerical simulations support the validy of this conclusion. Our findings may have intriguing connections with holographic superconductors in which the possibility of stimulation is under current debate.