English

Spin-orbit torques in NbSe$_2$/Permalloy bilayers

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2018-01-24 v1

Abstract

We present measurements of current-induced spin-orbit torques generated by NbSe2_2, a fully-metallic transition-metal dichalcogenide material, made using the spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance (ST-FMR) technique with NbSe2_{2}/Permalloy bilayers. In addition to the out-of-plane Oersted torque expected from current flow in the metallic NbSe2_{2} layer, we also observe an in-plane antidamping torque with torque conductivity σS103(/2e)\sigma_{S} \approx 10^{3} (\hbar / 2e)(Ω\Omegam)1^{-1} and indications of a weak field-like contribution to the out-of-plane torque oriented opposite to the Oersted torque. Furthermore, in some samples we also measure an in-plane field-like torque with the form m^×z^\hat{m} \times \hat{z}, where m^\hat{m} is the Permalloy magnetization direction and z^\hat{z} is perpendicular to the sample plane. The size of this component varies strongly between samples and is not correlated with the NbSe2_{2} thickness. A torque of this form is not allowed by the bulk symmetries of NbSe2_{2}, but is consistent with symmetry breaking by a uniaxial strain that might result during device fabrication.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1801.07281,
  title  = {Spin-orbit torques in NbSe$_2$/Permalloy bilayers},
  author = {Marcos H. D. Guimaraes and Gregory M. Stiehl and David MacNeill and Neal D. Reynolds and Daniel C. Ralph},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1801.07281},
  year   = {2018}
}

Comments

14 pages, 3 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-22T23:52:25.242Z