In 1996, Berger and Slonczewski independently predicted that a large enough spin-polarized dc current density sent perpendicularly through a ferromagnetic layer could produce magnetic excitations (spin-waves) or reversal of magnetization (switching). In the past few years, both current-driven switching and current-driven excitation of spin-waves have been observed. The switching is of potential technological interest for direct 'writing' of magnetic random access memory (MRAM) or magnetic media. The spin-wave generation could provide a new source of dc generated microwave radiation. We describe what has been learned experimentally about these two related phenomena, and some models being tested to explain these observations.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0310467,
title = {Current-driven excitations in magnetic multilayers: a brief review},
author = {J. Bass and S. Urazhdin and Norman O. Birge and W. P. Pratt},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0310467},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
5 pages, 7 figures, expected to appear in conf. proceedings